LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

University  of  California. 


Class 


TOO     NEAR    THE    WARPATH 


THE  HISTORY 


AND 

GOVERNMENT 

OF  THE 


UNITED  STATES 


BY 
JACOB  HARRIS  PATTON,  A.M.,  Ph.D. 

Author    of     "Natural     Resources    of    the    United    States," 

"  History  of  Political   Parties,"   M  Popular  History 

of  the  Presbyterian  Church,"  etc. 

AND 

JOHN  LrORD,  D.D.,  LX.D. 

Author  of  "Beacon   Lights  of  History." 
WITH  SPECIAL,  ARTICLES  BY 

Theodore  Roosevelt,  James  Cardinal  Gibbons, 

George    F.    Hoar,    Janies    Bryce 

Grover  Cleveland  and  others 


VOL.  I. 

The  University  Society 

New  York 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


turn  ROOM 


Copyright,  1876,  by  J.  B.  Ford  &  Company. 

Copyright,  1882,  1891,  1892,  and  1901,  by  Fords,  Howard  &  Hulbert. 

Copyright,  1903,  by  The  University  Society. 


PREFACE. 


Elaborate  histories  of  the  United  States  have  been  ably 
written,  while  compends  and  school  histories — well  adapted 
to  the  place  they  are  designed  to  fill — are  numerous.  Be- 
tween these  compends  and  the  works  extending  from  four 
to  twelve  volumes  there  is  necessity,  as  well  as  room,  for  a 
history  that  shall  be  sufficiently  elaborate  to  trace  the 
direct  influences  that  have  had  effect  in  moulding  the 
character  of  the  Nation  and  its  institutions,  moral  and 
political — one  that  treats  more  fully  of  the  "Inner  Life" 
of  the  American  people,  and  so  constructed  that  the  reader 
can  obtain  a  clear  conception  of  the  forces  that  have  made 
the  Nation  what  it  is.  In  accordance  with  this  view,  the 
present  work  is  designed  to  present,  as  fully  as  is  consistent 
with  such  a  plan,  those  events  which  are  interesting  in 
themselves  and  characteristic  of  the  times  and  people. 

While  the  author  has  availed  himself  as  much  as  possible 
of  original  authorities,  and  acknowledges  his  obligations  to 
the  many  elaborate  United  States  and  State  histories,  his 
main  effort  has  been  to  set  forth  our  story  in  his  own 
language,  wrought  into  a  consecutive  narrative,  confining 
himself  to  the  true  elements  of  history — that  is,  only  to 
those  events  and  principles  that  have  had  influence; 
making,  as  occasion  requires,  an  informal  summary  of  the 
less  important  facts  or  events,  in  order  to  keep  perfect  the 


vii 


3G84 


Till  PREFACE. 

thread  of  the  narrative.  Among  the  motive  forces,  due 
recognition  has  been  given  to  the  influence  of  moral  truths 
derived  from  the  Bible,  in  leading  the  people  to  cherish 
liberty  of  speech,  free  institutions,  and  the  general  educa- 
tion of  their  children. 

The  reader  has  no  reason  to  quarrel  with  the  facts  of 
History;  but  it  is  his  privilege  and  duty  to  deduce  from 
them  his  own  inferences.  In  these  latter  days  public  docu- 
ments are  published  to  the  world;  thus  the  materials  for 
writing  history  become  accessible.  By  this  means  the 
leading  facts  of  the  late  Civil  War  are  as  well  known 
to-day  as  they  ever  will  be.  Some  incidents  and  complica- 
tions in  the  careers  of  individuals  will  be  revealed  only 
when  the  "Life  and  Times"  of  each  comes  to  be  written. 
This  latter  class  of  material,  unfortunately  often  largely 
embellished  and  explained  by,  perhaps,  unconscious  apolo- 
gies and  after-thoughts,  may  throw  light  upon  personal 
motives  and  actions,  but  will  shed  little  upon  the  great 
events  themselves.  For  in  that  exciting  period  statesmen 
groped  their  way  ;  no  man  saw  the  end  from  the  beginning. 
The  same  may  be  said  of  the  unforeseen  consequences  of 
our  interference  on  behalf  of  Cuba  and  the  war  that  ensued 
thereon.  An  overruling  Hand  brought  about  the  great 
result,  not  by  the  plannings  of  men,  but  in  spite  of  them. 

It  is  hoped  that  the  intelligent  reader  will  find  in  these 
volumes  a  succinct  as  well  as  a  comprehensive  view  of  the 
history  of  the  American  people,  and  of  the  influential 
elements  that  have  gone  to  form  their  characteristics  and 
their  Government. 

J.  H.  P. 

NeW.York  City,  June  1,  1901. 


A  SKETCH 


History,  Greatness  and  Dangers 


AMERICA. 


By    JOHN    LORD,    LL.D., 

Author    of  "Beacon  Lights   of  History,"  etc. 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 
S^AUFOR^ 


A  SKETCH 

OP  THE 


HISTOKY,  GREATNESS  AND  DANGERS 
OF  AMERICA. 


By  John  Lord,  LL.D., 
Author  of  "  Beacon  Lights  of  History"  etc. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  point  out  an  event  in  the 
history  of  the  world  followed  by  more  important  results, 
certainly  in  a  material  and  political  aspect,  than  the  dis- 
covery of  America  by  Christopher  Columbus;  and  as 
centuries  and  years  roll  on,  these  results  appear  greater 
and  grander,  so  that  no  human  intellect  can  grasp  the 
mighty  issues  which  perpetually  arise  to  view.  How  lit- 
tle did  the  great  discoverer  anticipate  the  consequences 
of  his  adventuresome  voyages!  How  little  conscious 
was  he  of  the  boon  he  rendered  to  civilization  and  the 
human  race  !  It  was  too  great  to  be  measured  by  any 
ordinary  human  services. 

Nearly  a  century  passed  away  before  the  European 
mind  began  to  appreciate  the  true  import  of  the  dis- 
covery. Columbus  himself  did  not  imagine  the  blessings 
which  he  had  almost  unconsciously  bestowed.  He  had 
no  idea  even  that  he  had  given  a  new  world  to  Ferdinand 
and  Isabella.  He  supposed  at  first  that  he  had  reached  the 
eastern  shores  of  Asia — the  Zipango  of  Marco  Polo ;  that 
he  had  solved  a  great  geographical  problem  of  vast  com- 
mercial importance,  and  was  entitled  to  high  reward. 
Yet  it  had  been  the  Old  and  not  the  New  that  he  was 
seeking ;  while  it  was  the  New,  that  has  made  memora- 
ble the  year  of  our  Lord  1492. 

In  iaking  this  introductory  glance  at  the  history  of 


X  FOUR   HUNDRED  TEARS 

four  hundred  years,  which  Prof.  Patton  has  told  in  detail, 
we  wish  but  to  mark  a  few  of  the  great  events,  the  great 
men  and  the  great  elements  that  have  contributed  to 
make  that  history  most  notable  in  the  life  of  the  modern 
world. 

It  was  not  long  after  Columbus,  before  the  Spaniards, 
the  Portuguese,  the  English,  the  Dutch  and  the  French 
perceived  that  something  strange  had  been  discovered, 
and  successive  voyagers  made  it  clear  that  a  new  con- 
tinent had  really  been  opened  to  the  enterprise  of 
European  nations ;  that  it  was  rich  in  mines  of  gold  and 
silver ;  that  they  had  only  to  take  possession  of  it  by 
hoisting  a  national  flag.  They  found,  as  their  explora- 
tions extended,  that  this  new  continent  was  peopled  by 
entirely  unknown  races,  in  various  stages  of  barbarism 
or  savagery,  whose  languages  no  one  could  understand 
— tribes  inclined  to  be  friendly  and  peaceable,  but 
revengeful  and  treacherous  if  treated  unjustly  and 
unkindly.  All  the  various  tribes  from  Mexico  to 
Canada  had  the  same  general  peculiarities  of  feature  and 
color,  different  from  any  known  type  in  Asia  or  Africa. 
What  was  the  origin  of  this  strange  race  ?  Were  they 
aborigines,  or  did  their  remote  ancestors  come  from  Asia? 
Their  whole  history  is  involved  in  hopeless  mystery. 

Peaceful  relations  were  not  long  kept  up  between  the 
natives  and  the  adventurers  who  sought  the  new^vorld 
with  the  primary  view  of  improving  their  fortunes 
Hence  the  first  century  of  American  history  is  the  record 
of  conflicts  with  Indians,  of  injustice  and  cruelty,  pro- 
ducing deadly  animosities  on  both  sides,  until  the  natives 
were  conquered  and  nearly  exterminated. 

There  were  few  permanent  settlements,  but  there  was 
great  zeal  in  explorations,  in  which  YespuccJius,  Ponce  de 
Leon,  %the  Cabots,  Cartier,  De  Soto  and  other  famous 
captains  and  navigators  distinguished  themselves,  who, 
on  their  return  home,  reported  lands  of  mineral  wealth, 


OF  AMERICAN   HISTORY.  XI 

natural  fertility  and  great  beauty,  but  uncultivated  and 
sparsely  populated.  This  led  to  a  great  emigration  of 
adventurers,  chiefly  for  working  the  mines.  The  result 
was  the  enrichment  of  Spain,  but  not  a  healthy  coloniza- 
tion on  the  part  of  that  or  any  other  European  nation. 

Nor  was  the  second  century  of  North  American  his- 
tory fruitful  in  those  movements  and  characters  which 
have  much  interest  to  the  present  generation,  except 
that  it  was  the  period  of  colonization. 

Noting  particularly  the  English  and  French  settle- 
ments, the  first  in  importance  was  that  of  Virginia  under 
the  patronage  of  James  I  of  England.  He  gave  to 
his  favorites  and  courtiers  immense  territories.  He  also 
gave  charters  to  companies  of  merchants  and  others  more 
or  less  favored,  who  hoped  to  be  enriched,  not  by  mines 
of  gold  and  silver,  but  by  the  culture  of  tobacco  through 
African  slaves.  The  first  settlement  was  at  Jamestown, 
1607,  made  chiefly  by  sanguine  adventurers,  most  of 
whom  were  broken-down  gentlemen,  or  younger  sons  of 
noble  families,  who  did  not  know  how  to  work.  They 
were  so  unfortunate  also  as  to  quarrel  with  the  Indians. 
In  consequence  they  were  molested,  discouraged  and 
helpless,  and  their  numbers  dwindled  away  by  sickness 
and  famine.  Though  continually  reinforced  by  new 
arrivals,  the  Colony  did  not  thrive.  In  two  years  the 
able-bodied  men  numbered  only  about  two  hundred, 
and  only  forty  acres  of  land  were  brought  under  culti- 
vation. The  Colonists  were  idle  and  dissolute.  When 
John  Smith,  who  led  the  first  settlers,  returned  to 
England  discouraged,  there  were  only  sixty  men  left 
out  of  the  four  hundred  and  ninety  who  had  arrived 
at  different  times.  In  1612,  under  Sir  Thomas  Gates, 
three  hundred  additional  Colonists  arrived,  and  year 
after  year  their  number  was  again  increased,  and  yet 
in  twelve  years  the  settlement  contained  no  more  than 
six  hundred  persons.    At  last  the  Company  in  England 


Xii  FOUR    HUNDRED   YEARS 

sent  over  one  hundred  and  fifty  respectable  young 
women  who  became  wives  of  the  Colonists,  and  a  better 
day  dawned.  In  1619,  the  London  Company  granted  to 
the  people  the  right  to  make  their  own  laws,  and  the 
House  of  Burgesses  became  the  first  legislative  assembly 
in  the  New  World,  and  enacted  laws  in  favor  of  industry, 
virtue  and  good  order.  In  a  few  years  the  population  of 
the  colony  numbered  nearly  four  thousand,  chiefly  em- 
ployed in  the  cultivation  of  tobacco,  then  worth  on  the 
London  docks  six  shillings  a  pound.  But  the  people  were 
not  all  voters.  Only  those  who  possessed  a  landed  estate 
had  the  right  of  suffrage.  The  aristocratic  organization 
of  the  Colony  was  not  unfavorable  to  property,  since  the 
demand  for  tobacco  continually  increased.  In  a  hundred 
years  Virginia  was  the  richest  and  most  populous  of  the 
North  American  colonies;  ruled  by  planters  who  re- 
sembled the  county  gentlemen  of  England  in  their 
habits,  their  sentiments  and  their  pride.  In  religion  they 
were  Episcopalians,  and  in  their  social  life  they  were 
aristocrats  who  disdained  manual  labor,  which  was  done 
by  African  slaves 

The  next  event  of  importance  in  American  Colonial 
history  was  the  settlement  of  New  England,  by  a  differ- 
ent class  of  men,  who  sought  a  home  in  the  wilderness 
to  escape  religious  persecution.  In  1620  the  Pilgrim 
Fathers  landed  at  Plymouth.  I  need  not  dwell  on  their 
lofty  sentiments,  their  fervent  piety,  the  privation  and 
sufferings  they  cheerfully  endured,  exposed  to  innumer- 
able dangers,  which  developed  among  them  extraordin- 
ary self-reliance  and  the  spirit  of  liberty.  No  rich  soil, 
no  crops  of  tobacco  rewarded  their  hard  labors.  It  was  a 
struggle  for  existence  during  two  generations.  But  they 
were  brave,  industrious,  frugal  and  moral ;  they  con- 
quered*aature  when  she  was  most  unpropitious.  Among 
them  there  were  "no  distinctions  of  rank.  They  were 
too  insignificant  to  excite  the  rapacity  of  royal  govern- 


OF   AMERICAN    HISTORY.  XU1 

or&  They  were  chiefly  farmers,  mechanics  and  fisher- 
men who  had  few  wants  and  ambitious  aspirations,  with 
a  sprinkling  of  educated  men  who  took  their  place 
naturally  as  leaders,  but  all  animated  by  the  same  senti- 
ments, among  which  the  fear  of  God  was  pre-eminent — 
a  noble  race  to  lay  the  foundation  of  prosperity  and 
power.  Progress  of  settlement  was  slow  but  sure.  There 
were  no  drawbacks,  as  in  Virginia.  The  word  sent  back 
by  the  Plymouth  Colony  to  their  Puritan  friends  in 
England  resulted  in  a  further  emigration  in  1628,  and 
the  founding  of  the  Colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay; 
and  the  settlements  spread.  The  Puritans  were  honest 
in  their  dealings  with  the  Indians,  with  whom  they 
remained  at  peace  until  jealousies  among  the  Indians 
themselves  incited  war  upon  the  settlers.  Then  the 
English  fighting  blood  aroused  and  conquered  a  bloody 
peace,  lasting  for  half  a  century.  After  that,  expansion 
brought  conflict,  and  the  Indians  were  driven  westward. 
The  New  England  Colonists  elected  their  own  governor 
and  magistrates,  and  in  their  town-meetings  freely  ex- 
pressed their  sentiments.  For  a  hundred  years  they  pro- 
duced few  distinguished  men  except  ministers.  They 
knew  but  little  of  what  are  called  fine  arts,  either  music, 
architecture  or  painting.  No  sciences  received  an  im- 
pulse from  them,  and  no  literature  except  sermons. 
Socially  they  were  not  interesting,  being  narrow  and 
bigoted  and  indifferent  to  amusements.  But  they  all 
were  taught  the  rudiments  of  education  and  independ- 
ence of  mind.  In  fervent  religious  life  they  never  were 
excelled  by  any  people  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  Nor 
in  individual  sense  of  duty  were  they  ever  surpassed. 
The  difficulty  of  earning  a  living  on  a  sterile  soil  pre- 
vented the  accumulation  of  property,  and  perhaps  led 
them  to  attach  undue  value  to  money.  Their  frugality 
and  poverty  made  them  appear  parsimonious.  Their 
whole  history  is  a  refutation  of  the  theories  of  Buckle, 


Xfo  FOUB  HUNDRED  YEARS  ^ 

as  also  is  life  in  Scotland,  Switzerland  and  Northern 
Germany. 

The  colonization  of  Canada  (New  France)  by  the 
French,  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania  and  Dela- 
ware, by  Dutch  and  English,  resembled  in  the  main  that 
of  New  England  rather  than  that  of  Virginia  and  the 
Carolinas.  But  all  the  colonists,  north  and  south,  were  ex- 
posed *to  the  same  outward  dangers  in  the  hostility  of  the 
various  Indian  tribes.  So  far  as  they  have  a  common  his- 
tory, it  was  incessant  conflicts  with  the  aborigines,  on 
whose  hunting  grounds  the  white  men  encroached,  until 
the  Indians  were  exterminated  or  driven  to  the  west — a 
sad  record  of  injustice  and  wrong  to  be  palliated  only  by 
seeming  necessity.  It  was  the  old  story  of  the  warfare 
between  barbarism  and  civilization.  William  Penn's 
experience  in  successful  dealings  with  the  Indians  by 
means  of  just  and  equitable  negotiation  show  that  the 
whole  black  record  of  the  white  man's  oppression  of  the 
Indian  has  been  utterly  needless — the  outgrowth  of  greed. 

It  was  not  till  the  18th  century  that  the  Colonies, 
whether  French  or  English,  can  be  said  to  have 
had  any  notable  history,  and  even  this  is  meagre — 
struggles  with  colonial  governors,  warlike  expeditions 
through  a  pathless  wilderness,  religious  persecutions,  the 
extension  of  frontier  settlements,  theological  quar- 
rels, political  theories,  all  of  which  favored  growth 
and  development,  but  which  produced  no  historic 
names,  except  of  theologians  like  Jonathan  Edwards, 
No  great  character  arose  who  gave  a  new  political  direc- 
tion to  colonial  growth.  There  were  no  great  events 
which  either  interest  or  instruct  us  until  the  Seven 
Years'  War  in  Europe  led  to  a  contest  between  the 
English  and  French  settlements,  resulting  in  the  fall  of 
Louisburg,  through  the  bravery  of  New  England  troops 
led  by  Sir  William  Pepperell,  a  Kittery  merchant,  and  the 
conquest  of  Canada  under  the  inspiration  of  William 


OF  AMERICAN   HISTORY.  XV 

l*itt,  when  James  Wolfe  was  the  hero.  It  was  in  this 
war  that  the  colonists  first  distinguished  themselves, 
fighting  for  the  mother-country  rather  than  for  their 
own  interests ;  that  Washington,  the  greatest  name  in 
our  history,  first  appeared  upon  the  way,  as  an  aide  to 
the  brave,  but  obstinate  and  unfortunate,  General 
Braddock. 

The  result  of  this  war  was  to  destroy  the  prestige  of 
English  soldiers,  and  to  fan  a  military  spirit  in  the 
colonies.  It  taught  the  raw  American  militia  self-reli- 
ance, and  incited  a  passion  for  national  independence. 
The  colouists  numbered  now  nearly  four  millions  of 
people,  wearied  by  English  rule,  ambitious  to  become 
a  nation,  and  bound  together  by  the  ties  of  interest.  As 
yet  no  lights  in  science  had  arisen  except  Benjamin 
Franklin,  no  distinguished  literary  men,  no  poets  or  his- 
torians, no  great  political  writers,  no  lawyers  even,  ex- 
cept of  local  fame.  Books  were  scarce  and  dear,  and 
newspapers  few.  There  was  not  a  merchant  in  the 
country  whom  we  now  should  consider  rich,  probably 
not  a  single  millionaire  from  Portland  to  Charleston. 
The  richest  men  were  the  planters  of  Virginia  and 
South  Carolina ;  and  even  the  foundations  of  their  pros- 
perity were  being  undermined  by  negro  slaves  and  the 
fall  in  the  price  of  tobacco — the  great  staple  of  Southern 
industry.  The  ambitious  residences  of  the  planters, 
built  in  imitation  of  baronial  halls,  were  falling  into 
decay,  and  their  vast  estates  were  encumbered  and 
mortgaged,  which  led  to  the  rise  of  a  class  of  lawyers 
for  the  collection  of  debts,  such  as  Jefferson  and  Patrick 
Henry  in  their  early  career,  and  also  to  the  increase  of 
the  yeomanry,  neither  rich  nor  poor,  among  whom  was 
developed  the  passion  for  liberty  and  opposition  to 
royal  governors,  as  seen  in  the  Virginia  House  of  Bur- 


Twenty  years  of  peace  followed  the   Seven  ¥6318' 


XVI  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS 

War,  but  they  were  not  years  of  rest.  It  was  a  period 
of  agitation  and  discontent.  Political  theories  inter- 
ested every  class,  who  now  began  to  catch  glimpses  of 
the  future  extension  of  the  country.  It  was  also  a 
period  of  great  material  prosperity.  The  fisheries  of 
Newfoundland  were  a  source  of  profit  to  the  people  on 
the  New  England  coast,  as  well  as  a  colonial  trade. 
Lumber  and  fish  were  exchanged  in  the  West  India 
Islands  for  molasses  and  rum — a  new  enterprise,  which 
demoralized  as  well  as  enriched.  The  population  at  the 
North  rapidly  increased.  Land  was  cleared  of  forests 
and  cultivated  from  the  East  coast  towns  to  the  Hudson 
Kiver  and  beyond ;  and  the  population,  chiefly  consist- 
ing of  farmers,  who  still  remained  poor,  was  yet 
independent  and  intelligent.  Beautiful  villages  arose 
on  the  banks  of  every  river  and  at  the  base  of  hills. 
The  fear  of  Indians  passed  away.  Some  fine  houses 
were  built  in  the  larger  towns,  and  luxuries  to  some  ex- 
tent were  enjoyed  by  country  merchants  and  the  profes- 
sional classes.  Colleges  and  academies  arose,  to  which 
resorted  the  sons  of  prosperous  farmers.  Mechanics 
acquired  skill,  and  some  articles  which  were  formerly 
imported  were  manufactured  in  a  rough  way. 

But  the  most  marked  feature  of  the  time  was  political 
agitation  and  a  desire  to  be  free  from  the  mother- 
country.  This,  indeed,  was  not  avowed  nor  every- 
where desired ;  but  there  was  a  growing  impatience  of 
restraints  imposed  by  the  English  Government,  and  the 
haughty  tone  of  Colonial  governors  and  judges  who  were 
appointed  by  the  Crown.  In  town  meetings  the  prin- 
ciples of  liberty  were  discussed.  Much  was  written  on 
the  imposition  of  taxes  toward  the  support  of  the 
English  Government,  weakened  by  the  Seven  Years' 
Wai\  The  popular  orators,  like  Samuel  Adams,  James 
Otis  and  Patrick  Henry,  declared  that  the  people  could 
not  be  taxed  without  their   own   consent.     Some  sup 


OF   AMERICAN    HISTORY.  XV11 

ported  this  doctrine  from  those  abstract  rights  which 
appeal  to  consciousness,  and  others  from  the  constitutional 
history  of  England.  Nobody  felt  the  burden  of  the 
taxes  imposed,  but  everybody  believed  that  the  prece- 
dent of  taxation  would  be  abused  until  it  became  oppres- 
sive. Public  sentiment,  however,  was  nearly  unanimous 
that  taxation  by  Great  Britain  was  an  infringement  on 
liberties  and  charters,  which  were  to  be  defended  as  sacred. 
But  I  am  inclined  to  the  belief  that  opposition  to  Eng- 
lish taxation  was  based  on  the  secret  desire  to  be  free 
from  England  altogether  as  much  as  on  fear  of  oppression 
— at  least,  among  the  leaders  of  agitation,  like  John 
Adams,  who  clearly  saw  the  inevitable  extension  and 
future  power  of  the  Colonies,  especially  if  united.  The 
spirit  of  the  Colonists  from  north  to  south  was  aggres- 
sive, bold,  independent,  fearless,  with  a  probable  ex- 
aggeration of  their  military  strength,  natural  to  people 
who  lived  so  far  away  from  the  great  centres  of  civiliza- 
tion, and  accustomed  to  self-reliance  amid  the  dangers 
which  had  menaced  them  for  more  than  a  hundred 
years. 

Hence  arose  the  American  Revolution,  not  merely  the 
most  important  event  thus  far  in  American  history,  but 
one  of  the  greatest  events  in  the  history  of  the  world, 
in  view  of  the  remote  consequences.  The  Colonists 
were  very  poorly  prepared  for  a  contest  with  the  great- 
est power  in  Europe,  but  they  rushed  into  it  with 
the  utmost  enthusiasm ;  their  earliest  resistance  was  suc- 
cessful, and  the  British  troops,  mostly  veterans,  were 
driven  from  Boston,  to  the  immense  astonishment  and 
chagrin  of  the  English  Government,  who  expected  a 
ready  submission.  Yet  resistance  would  not  have  been 
successful  if  the  defence  had  been  made  in  Europe,  with 
its  good  roads  and  means  of  transportation  for  regular 
troops.  It  was  so  in  America  rather  by  reason  of  the 
impassable   wilderness  which  skirted  the    settlements 


XVlii  lOUE  HUNDRED  YEARS 

than  the  military  strength  of  the  Colonists.  Nor  would 
independence  probably  have  been  then  achieved  had  it 
not  been  for  the  transcendent  abilities,  patience  and 
patriotism  of  the  leader  whom  Providence  pointed  out 
for  them.  Though  defeated  in  almost  every  battle,  and 
driven  from  one  position  after  another,  leading  almost 
the  life  of  a  fugitive,  with  a  feeble  band,  like  David  in 
the  wilderness,  the  heroic  Washington  persevered  long 
after  success  had  given  way  to  crushing  disaster,  amid 
great  obstacles,  with  treason  among  his  followers,  slan- 
ders and  popular  discontents  :  without  money  and  with 
scarcely  any  military  equipments  for  his  raw  militia, 
until  his  cause  was  won — and  won  more  by  his  taking 
advantage  of  the  difficulties  which  nature  imposed  on 
the  enemy  than  by  the  skill  and  bravery  of  his  own 
troops.  Without  him  for  a  leader,  with  jealousies  and 
rivalries  on  the  part  of  generals  and  politicians,  and 
growing  apathy  on  the  part  of  the  people,  who,  as  the 
war  went  on,  tardily  and  reluctantly  enlisted,  and  then 
only  for  short  periods,  the  contest  would  have  been  at 
least  prolonged,  like  that  of  the  Greek  revolutionists; 
and  if  France  had  not  come  to  the  rescue — not  from 
sympathy  with  a  struggling  people  so  much  as  from  the 
desire  to  cripple  its  ancient  and  implacable  British  foe — 
the  cause  might  have  been  given  up  in  despair  until 
fought  for  again  in  a  succeeding  generation. 

The  whole  conflict  to  a  thoughtful  and  religious  mind 
has  the  significance  of  a  providential  event,  or  of  mani- 
fest destiny  to  those  who  claim  to  be  philosophical  and 
who  cast  their  eyes  on  the  immense  resources  which  were 
sure  to  be  developed  at  no  distant  day  in  the  unsettled 
wilderness  which  stretched  from  the  Atlantic  to  the 
Pacific. 

As  we  speculate  on  the  results  of  this  memorable  con- 
test, we  are  compelled  to  notice  the  special  attractions 
which  a  free  country  has  held  out  for  emigrants  from 


OF  AMERICAN   HISTORY.  XIX 

the  old  States  of  Europe :  the  unbounded  facilities  for 
the  poor  man  to  earn  a  living  and  even  to  become  rich ; 
the  increasing  openings  for  enterprise  of  all  kinds ;  the 
vast  expanse  of  public  lands  to  be  entered  upon;  the 
legal  facilities  for  acquisition,  sale  and  purchase  of  land — 
diametrically  opposite  in  policy  to  the  conservative 
restrictions  in  the  old  countries ;  the  unparalleled 
and  rapid  increase  of  population,  doubling  every 
twenty-five  years ;  the  resistless  tide  of  emigration 
toward  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi,  and  finally  to  the  Pacific 
Ocean ;  the  universal  sense  of  security  in  the  new  settle- 
ments, and  the  feeling  of  nationality  which  has  animated 
and  united  the  whole  population. 

With  political  unity  and  the  advance  of  material  in- 
terests leading  to  wealth  and  power,  we  do  not  see,  it 
must  be  confessed,  a  corresponding  progress  in  morals 
or  eminent  attainments  in  literature  and  science.  The 
untoward  influences  retarding  this  higher  growth  began 
very  early.  The  war  of  the  devolution  relaxed  the 
social  restraints  which  Puritanism  had  favored.  The 
disbanded  soldiers  were  neither  so  temperate  nor  indus- 
trious as  their  fathers,  and  the  vices  of  drunkenness  and 
profanity  became  alarming  even  in  the  land  of  steady 
habits,  to  say  nothing  of  the  looseness  in  religious 
opinions.  The  old  Calvinistic  divines  were  succeeded  in 
many  parishes  by  more  indulgent  ministers  who  preached 
short  sermons  of  ethical  platitudes,  forgot  pastoral  duties 
and  had  a  keen  eye  to  professional  interests,  while  many 
a  sturdy  farmer  added  Jamaica  rum  to  his  supposed 
necessities,  and  ended  by  putting  a  mortgage  on  his 
paternal  lands. 

Scarcely  had  the  United  States  started  on  their  career 
of  prosperity  after  their  successful  struggle  with  Eng- 
land when  they  were  exposed  to  a  new  danger,  from  the 
reluctance  of  many  States  to  adopt  the  Constitution  which 
the  wisest  and  greatest  statesmen  of  the  land  had  framed 


XX  FOUR  HUNDRED  YEARS 

in  Philadelphia,  in  1787.  John  Fiske  has  well  called 
this  "  the  critical  period  in  American  history."  There 
were  in  the  Constitutional  Convention  every  variety  of 
opinion,  and  incessant  debates.  There  were  fifty-five 
men  in  all,  representing  the  different  States.  Among 
the  more  illustrious  were  Franklin,  Washington,  Hamil- 
ton, and  Madison.  Differences  arose  as  to  the  ratio  of 
representation,  the  mode  of  election  of  President  and  the 
powers  to  be  delegated  to  him,  the  functions  of  the  two 
legislative  Houses  and  the  election  of  members,  the 
Federal  courts  and  commercial  regulations.  There  was 
an  obvious  antagonism  between  the  North  and  South, 
and  between  the  larger  and  smaller  States,  as  to  repre- 
sentation. There  were  angry  discussions  whether  slaves 
should  be  considered  property  or  persons.  Some  leaned 
towards  a  centralized  government,  after  the  manner  of 
monarchical  institutions,  and  others  to  extreme  democ- 
racy. After  four  months  of  toilsome  compromises  the 
Constitution  was  signed,  as  the  best  that  could  be  made 
under  the  circumstances.  And  although,  at  the  time,  it 
satisfied  no  one  in  all  its  parts,  it  has  been  characterized  as 
the  most  admirably  written  constitution  ever  formulated, 
at  once  the  simplest,  the  most  elastic,  the  best  adapted 
to  the  circumstances  for  which  it  was  prepared.* 

The  next  thing  was  to  get  it  ratified, — but  some  of 
the  States  stood  aloof,  especially  New  York.  This  called 
out  Jay,  Hamilton  and  Madison  in  a  series  of  able  papers 
fialled  The  Federalist — an  immortal  State  document, 
which  seemed  to  turn  the  balance,  and  the  Constitution 
was  saved,  subject  to  future  amendments. 

Then  followed  the  election  of  President,  and  such  was 
the  universal  veneration  for  Washington,  respect  for  his 

*  "  As  the  British  Constitution  is  the  most  subtle  organism  which 
has  proceeded  from  progressive  history,  so  the  American  Constitu- 
tion is  the  most  wonderful  work  ever  struck  off  at  a  given  time  by 
She  brain  and  purpose  of  man." — W.  E.  Gladstone. 


OF   AMERICAN   HISTOET.  XXI 

abilities  and  gratitude  for  his  services,  that  he  was  unani- 
mously elected — the  wisest  choice  that  could  possibly  be 
made,  since  the  nation  was  safe  under  his  guidance. 

His  administration  was  not  marked  by  stirring  events, 
but  by  great  sagacity.  It  was  memorable  for  the  forma- 
tion of  the  two  great  political  parties  which,  under  dif- 
ferent names,  have  since  divided  the  nation,  the  Federal- 
ists, and  the  Republicans  or  Democrats — the  one  led  by 
Hamilton  and  the  other  by  Jefferson.  The  Federalists 
aimed  at  greater  centralization  of  Federal  power ;  the 
Republicans — so-named  after  the  French  republican 
clubs — leaned  to  State  sovereignty.  The  first  party  was 
composed  chiefly  of  the  professional  and  educated  classes, 
merchants,  and  men  of  high  social  position ;  the  second 
embraced  the  common  people  and  their  ambitious  leaders 
who  sought  extension  of  the  suffrage — a  party  which  con- 
tinually increased  until  political  power  fell  into  its 
hands,  never  afterward  to  be  lost,  until  their  democracy 
made  itself  a  tool  of  the  slave-holding  aristocracy.  Wash- 
ington received  a  second  election,  and  when  his  term  of 
office  closed  he  gladly  retired  to  his  beloved  Mount  Ver- 
non, and  in  a  few  years  died,  leaving  the  most  unsullied 
fame  that  any  man  of  modern  times  has  earned. 

His  successor,  John  Adams,  had  rendered  great  ser- 
vices, both  before  and  during  the  Revolution,  in  advis- 
ing and  assisting  his  countrymen  to  shake  off  English 
domination  ;  he  had  been  an  efficient,  though  not  re- 
markable diplomatist  in  Holland,  France  and  England ; 
and  was  an  honest  and  patriotic  statesman,  an  industrious 
legislator,  an  effective  public  speaker,  a  brilliant  con- 
versationalist and  letter  writer,  with  the  only  drawback 
of  a  hasty,  irascible  and  disputatious  temper,  and  great 
personal  vanity.  He  was  a  Federalist  like  Washington, 
and  made  few  removals  from  office.  He  retired  reluc- 
tantly from  his  high  position  and  withdrew  to  Quincy 
to  nurse   his  resentments,  especially  against  Jefferson, 


XX11  FOUR  HUNDRED  YEARS 

the  successful  rival  who  succeeded  him  in  the  Presi- 
dency, having  been  elected  to  it  by  the  Republican  or 
Anti-Federalist  party. 

The  eight-years'  administration  of  Jefferson,  like  those 
of  Washington  and  Adams,  was  not  fruitful  in  matters 
of  historical  interest,  but  was  marked  by  great  public 
prosperity.  Jefferson  was  a  philosopher  and  a  man  of 
peace,  and  although  provoked  almost  beyond  endurance 
by  the  injuries  which  France  and  England  continued  to 
inflict  on  American  commerce,  and  by  the  impressment 
of  seamen  and  hostility  to  the  United  States,  yet  he  ab- 
stained from  plunging  the  nation  into  war.  He  made  a 
great  mistake  in  his  "  embargo,"  which  pleased  only 
those  who  had  no  ships  to  rot  on  the  wharves,  without 
inflicting  serious  injury  on  British  manufactures,  and  he 
made  himself  ridiculous  by  his  gunboats  as  a  means  of 
national  defence.  With  him  anything  was  better  than 
war.  And  here  he  was  probably  right,  considering  the 
defenceless  state  of  the  country  with  all  its  financial  em- 
barrassments. His  great  aim  was  to  pay  off  the  national 
debt,  and  develop  industries.  But  he  was  hostile  to  a 
national  bank  and  Federal  tariffs  on  foreign  goods  for 
protection  to  domestic  manufactures.  He  threw  his  in- 
fluence into  measures  for  the  welfare  of  farmers  rather 
than  of  manufacturers  and  merchants.  As  his  party  hafl 
acquired  undisputed  ascendency,  old  political  animosi- 
ties died  out.  Although  a  Democrat  (as  the  Republican 
party  had  come  to  be  called),  succeeding  a  Federalist 
administration,  he  made  very  few  removals  from  office. 
His  policy  was  pacific  and  conciliatory,  and  his  popular- 
ity increased  with  the  national  prosperity.  He  was  the 
most  long-sighted  of  all  American  politicians,  seeing 
that  political  power  hereafter  would  be  lodged  with  the 
common  people,  and  he  adapted  himself  to  their  wants, 
their  prejudices  and  their  aspirations. 

Though  bom  on  a  plantation,  he  was  democratic  in  his 


OF   AMERICAN    HISTORY.  XX111 

(Sympathies.  He  was  no  orator  like  John  Adams ;  in- 
deed, he  could  not  make  a  speech  at  all ;  but  he  could 
write  public  documents  with  masterly  abilities,  and  was 
fond  of  writing  letters.  His  greatest  feat  was  the  pur- 
chase of  Louisiana  from  France,  but  his  administration 
was  most  memorable  for  departing  from  the  policy  of 
Washington  and  Adams,  in  breaking  away  from  the 
courtly  formality  and  dignity  of  official  life  and  inaugur- 
ating an  era  of  popular  "  republican  simplicity."  The 
day  of  strong  central  Federalism  in  government  gave 
way  to  the  reactionary  Democracy.  Jefferson  was  an 
original  thinker  and  a  natural  opponent  of  authority, 
whether  in  politics  or  religion.  For  his  own  epitaph  he 
described  himself  as  "  Author  of  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence and  of  the  statute  of  Virginia  for  religious 
freedom." 

Jefferson  bequeathed  to  his  successor,  Madison,  the  re- 
sponsibility of  settling  the  growing  difficulties  with 
Great  Britain.  Madison  was  the  disciple,  admirer  and 
friend  of  Jefferson,  through  whose  influence  he  had  been 
weaned  from  Federalism,  which  originally  he  had 
adopted.  He,  too,  one  of  the  most  able  statesmen  of  the 
times,  and  one  of  the  most  enlightened,  would  have  kept 
the  country  from  drifting  into  war  had  that  been  in  his 
power.  He  clearly  saw  that  the  nation  was  unprepared 
— that  it  had  neither  an  army  or  navy  of  any  size ;  but 
the  unabated  insults  of  the  English  government,  the 
continual  injuries  it  inflicted  on  American  commerce, 
and  its  haughty  and  arrogant  tone  in  all  negotiations, 
were  infuriating  Congress  and  the  American  people.  It 
became  clear  that  war  was  simply  a  choice  of  evils — that 
the  nation  must  either  submit  to  humiliation  and  dis- 
honor, or  risk  disaster,  the  defeat  of  armies  and  the  in- 
crease of  the  national  debt.  The  war  of  1812  was  with- 
out glory  on  the  land,  being  a  miserable  series  of  blun- 
ders and  misfortunes  on  the  part  of  generals,  and  with- 


XXIV  FOUR  HUNDRED  YEARS 

out  results  at  all  gratifying  to  American  pride.  And  it 
was  also  regarded  as  unnecessary  by  those  who  were 
most  injured  by  naval  depredations.  It  was  popular  only 
among  those  who  lived  in  the  interior,  and  who  cher- 
ished the  traditions  of  Bunker  Hill  and  of  Yorktown. 
Its  calamities  were  indeed  partially  redeemed  by  naval 
successes,  which  shed  renown  on  such  captains  as  Deca- 
tur, Barron  and  Bainbridge.  It  might  have  been  more 
successful  if  the  whole  people  had  been  united  in  it, 
to  accomplish  a  distinctive  practical  object,  as  in  the 
French  and  Indian  War  when  Canada  was  conquered,  or 
in  the  Revolutionary  struggle  for  liberty.  But  it  had  no 
specific  aims  except  to  vindicate  national  honor.  As  such 
it  was  not  without  important  results.  It  convinced  Eng- 
land, at  least,  that  the  Americans  would  no  longer  be 
trifled  with,  and  that  all  future  hostilities,  whichever 
way  they  terminated,  would  inflict  evils  without  corres- 
ponding benefits.  The  war  doubtless  gave  a  great  stim- 
ulus to  the  infant  manufactures  of  the  country,  and  va- 
rious kinds  of  industries,  since  the  people  were  driven  to 
them  by  necessity,  and  thus  helped  to  build  up  New  Eng- 
land in  spite  of  its  ruined  commerce.  The  war  also  scat- 
tered wealth  and  inflated  prices.  All  wars  have  this  effect; 
but  it  demoralized  the  people  like  the  Revolutionary 
War  itself,  notwithstanding  the  great  bonus  it  bestowed. 
Both  countries  were  glad  when  the  war  terminated,  for 
both  were  equal  sufferers,  and,  to  all  appearances,  gained 
but  trifling  advantages.  In  the  peace  which  was  con- 
summated at  Ghent,  of  which  John  Quincy  Adams  and 
Henry  Clay  were  the  chief  negotiators,  nothing  was  said 
about  the  injuries  which  provoked  the  contest,  but  they 
never  were  forgotten,  and  the  United  States  were  doubt- 
less put  on  a  better  footing  with  foreign  powers.  From 
that  time  national  progress  was  more  rapid  than  before, 
and  all  classes  settled  down  to  peaceful  prosperity  and  to 
improving  their  condition. 


OF   AMERICAN    HISTORY.  XXV 

The  only  event  of  importance  which  occurred  during 
Madison's  administration,  after  the  close  of  the  war,  was 
the  cession  of  Florida  to  the  United  States  in  1819,  ne- 
gotiated by  John  Quincy  Adams,  but  opposed  by  Henry 
Clay.  The  latter  great  man  had  now  become  one  of  the 
most  prominent  figures  in  American  politics,  and  his  en- 
trance upon  the  political  arena  marked  the  growing  im- 
portance of  Congress  in  the  domestic  affairs  of  the  coun- 
try at  large.  From  this  time  the  abler  statesmen  in  the  Na- 
tional Legislature  obtained  by  their  debates  a  greater 
prominence  in  the  public  eye  than  even  the  Executive  it- 
self. 

This  was  true  especially  during  the  administration  of 
Madison's  successor,  Monroe,  who  was  more  distinguished 
for  respectability  than  eminent  abilities — the  last  of  the 
"  Virginia  dynasty."  His  name  has  been  particularly 
associated  with  a  declaration  made  in  his  message  to 
Congress  in  March,  1822,  that,  "as  a  principle,  the 
American  Continents,  by  the  free  and  independent 
position  they  have  assumed  and  maintained,  are  hence- 
forth not  to  be  considered  as  subjects  for  future 
colonization  by  any  foreign  power."  This  is  known  as 
"the  Monroe  doctrine,"  although  it  should  probably  be 
credited  to  John  Quincy  Adams,  Monroe's  Secretary  of 
State. 

During  the  times  of  "  good  feeling  "  and  absence  of 
party  animosities  which  marked  the  administration  of 
Monroe,  two  great  men,  Daniel  Webster  and  Henry  Clay, 
appeared  in  the  halls  of  Congress  destined  to  make  a  mark 
in  the  domestic  history  of  the  nation.  And  there  was 
one  event  which  happened  during  the  same  period,  the 
political  consequences  of  which  were  of  great  impor- 
tance, the  work  of  these  rising  statesmen  rather  than  of 
the  President.  This  was  the  famous  Missouri  Compro- 
mise, marking  the  first  conflict  between  slavery  and  free- 
dom— a  question  which  thenceforward  dwarfed  all  other 


XXVI  FOUR  HUNDRED  YEARS 

subjects  of  national  interest.  Thitherto  the  great  que* 
tion  had  been  kept  in  the  background,  but  in  1818  a  bill 
was  introduced  into  Congress  proposing  the  admission  of 
Missouri  into  the  Union,  which  when  it  reached  the  Sen- 
ate was  amended  bv  Mr.  Tallmadge  of  Mew  York,  pro- 
viding that  slaves  should  not  De  inrtlier  introduced  into 
the  St^ate.  Angry  discussions  followed,  and  although  the 
amendment  was  adopted,  the  question  was  not  lost  sight 
of,  but  for  two  years  engaged  the  in  tensest  interest  of 
Congress  and  the  public,  until  in  1821  a  compromise  was 
effected  by  Henry  Clay,  by  which  slavery  was  forever 
excluded  from  United  States  territory  north  of  36°  30' 
of  latitude,  and  west  of  the  western  boundary  of  Mis- 
souri. This  admitted  Missouri  as  a  slave  State,  but 
drew  the  line  of  demarcation  at  that. 

The  administration  of  John  Quincy  Adams,  Monroe's 
successor,  was  unmarked  by  important  political  events, 
and  he  quietly  continued  the  policy  of  his  predecessor, 
making  but  few  removals  from  office.  He  had  been  a 
Federalist,  but  swung  round  to  the  Republican  or  Demo- 
cratic party.  ISTo  one  since  Washington  was  so  little  oi 
a  partisan  as  this  President,  and  no  one  was  ever  more 
conscientious  in  the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  his  office. 
But  he  was  not  popular.  Neither  his  habits  nor  opinions 
gained  him  friends,  while  they  created  many  enemies, 
the  most  implacable  of  whom  was  General  Jackson,  who 
considered  himself  cheated  out  of  the  Presidency  by  a 
supposed  coalition  between  Adams  and  Clay,  on  which 
he  harped  to  the  day  of  his  death. 

In  1829  the  public  career  of  John  Quincy  Adams  ap- 
parently closed,  but  his  best  days  were  yet  to  come  as  the 
champion  of  human  freedom  in  the  House  of  Represen- 
tatives. His  most  distinctive  trait  of  character  was 
moral  heroism.  He  had  a  lofty  self-respect  which  pre- 
vented him  from  conciliating  foes,  or  rewarding  friends ; 
an  old  Puritan,  sternly  incorruptible,  disdaining  policy 


OF   AMERICAN   HISTORY.  XXVli 

in  the  inflexible  sense  of  duty  and  personal  dignity, 
learned  without  genius,  eloquent  without  rhetoric,  ex- 
perienced without  wisdom,  and  religious  without  ortho- 
doxy, yet  securing  universal  respect  from  his  austere  in- 
tegrity and  undoubted  patriotism,  the  last  of  the  great 
statesmen,  except  the  military  heroes,  who  reached  ex- 
alted rank  from  the  services  he  had  previously  rendered. 
The  elevation  of  Andrew  Jackson  to  the  Presidency 
was  memorable  for  a  new  departure  in  the  political  his- 
tory of  the  United  States.  He  was  a  man  of  remarkable 
force.  Born  poor,  he  had,  almost  without  friends,  made 
his  own  way,  becoming  lawyer,  Congressman,  United 
States  Senator,  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Tennes- 
see, volunteer  militia  officer,  Major-General  and  Depart- 
ment Commander,  and  Governor  of  Florida.  He  had 
rendered  undoubted  services  in  the  war  of  1812,  especially 
by  his  brilliant  victory  at  New  Orleans,  and  he  also  had 
shown  considerable  ability  in  conflicts  with  the  Indians, 
which  gave  him  great  popularity.  But  he  was  accused 
of  being  ignorant,  prejudiced,  unscrupulous,  and  self- 
willed.  He  began  his  administration  by  making  the 
members  of  his  Cabinet  his  tools  or  clerks,  and  giving 
his  confidence  to  a  few  unofficial  admirers,  called  the 
"  Kitchen  Cabinet."  So  far  as  he  was  ruled  at  all  it  was 
by  these  "  machine  politicians,"  whose  policy  was  a  divi- 
sion of  the  spoils  of  office.  At  the  start  Jackson  fool- 
ishly quarreled  with  nearly  all  the  members  of  his 
Cabinet,  because  their  wives  would  not  associate  with  a 
woman  of  inferior  social  position  who  had  married  the 
Secretary  of  War.  Next,  he  turned  out  most  of  the  office- 
holders whom  his  predecessors  had  appointed,  who  were 
not  his  partisans,  on  the  infamous  doctrine :  "  To  the 
victor  belong  the  spoils,"  a  movement  which  unfortun- 
ately became  the  policy  of  his  successors  of  all  parties, 
as  a  party  measure.  This  course  cannot  be  sustained  by 
justice  or  by  argument  from  experience,  either  in  con- 


XXV111  FOUR  HUNDRED   YEARS 


serving  party  strength  or  advancing  official  efficiency  in 
charge  of  the  national  interests.  It  causes  intense 
hatreds  and  bitter  disappointments.  Jackson  made  ten 
times  more  removals  in  one  month  than  all  his  prede- 
cessors had  done  before  him,  and  this  without  regard 
to  fitness  for  office,  but  avowedly  to  reward  partisans, 
in  a  time  of  intense  political  partisanship. 

It  was  not  long  after  his  inauguration  before  Jackson 
became  involved  in  a  quarrel  with  the  United  States 
Bank.  The  notes  of  this  bank  were  as  good  as  gold,  and 
it  had  proved  useful  in  the  regulation  of  the  currency, 
in  fact,  a  necessity  which  had  the  confidence  of  business 
men  throughout  the  country.  Under  the  pretense  that 
it  was  an  engine  of  political  corruption  the  President 
waged  an  uncompromising  war  until  he  effected  his  pur- 
pose of  crippling  it.  I  need  not  detail  the  financial 
troubles  which  ensued  when  the  great  central  bank, 
the  Federal  balance-wheel  of  all  money  operations,  was 
stopped,  and  when  State  banks — called  "  Pets  " — sprung 
up  everywhere,  without  sufficient  capital,  to  which  the 
public  funds  were  intrusted  until  they  all  burst  up  to- 
gether in  the  financial  crash  of  1837,  and  the  general 
suspension  of  specie  payments.  In  justice  I  must  add 
that  this  crash  was  not  caused  wholly  by  the  winding  up 
of  the  United  States  Bank,  but  largely  by  an  enormous 
inflation  of  paper  money  in  the  craze  for  universal 
speculation,  to  which  everybody  was  tempted  by  the 
prosperity  of  the  country,  arising  from  its  rapid  settle- 
ment and  development. 

But  more  important  than  the  President's  war  on  the 
United  States  Bank  was  the  compromise  tariff  of  1833, 
which  led  to  the  greatest  series  of  debates  ever  seen  before 
in  the  halls  of  Congress,  and  in  which  Clay,  Webster,  and 
Calhouhr  were  the  parliamentary  giants.  The  United 
States  Senate  never  has  had  such  famous  debaters  as  dur- 
ing the  administration  of  General  Jackson.     He  seemed 


OF   AMERICAN    HISTORY.  XXIX 

to  call  our  all  the  bitter  hostilities  which  had  been  buried 
since  the  times  of  Jefferson.  The  extraordinary  ability 
which  was  developed  at  this  time  in  both  Houses  of  Con- 
gress, but  especially  in  the  Senate,  was  directed  to  every- 
thing of  national  interest.  Into  all  political  subjects 
did  statesmen  cast  their  fearless  eyes — questions  of 
finance,  political  economy,  internal  improvements,  manu- 
factures, commerce,  and  Indian  difficulties.  Congres- 
sional legislation  during  the  memorable  eight  years 
of  Jackson's  rule  is  exceedingly  interesting.  The  op- 
position was  conducted  by  the  Whig  party,  successors  of 
the  Federalists,  friends  of  the  United  States  Bank,  of  a 
tariff  iDvolving  protection  to  infant  industries,  and  gen- 
erally of  what  the  Democrats  opposed.  The  Whig  press 
was  wonderfully  active,  not  only  in  discussing  public 
measures,  but  in  caricaturing  public  men,  especially  the 
President  himself,  who  acted  from  the  counsels  of  his 
own  will  alone,  while  everybody  approved  or  must  sub- 
mit to  the  penalty  of  his  displeasure. 

The  debates  on  the  tariff  settled  nothing.  What  ques- 
tion of  political  economy  ever  was  settled,  any  more  than 
doctrines  of  theology !  For  more  than  half  a  century 
our  legislators  have  attempted  to  solve  this  puzzle — 
whether  a  tariff  should  be  imposed  for  revenue  only,  or 
for  the  protection  of  various  industries — but  the  question 
was  probably  never  more  ably  discussed  than  by  Clay, 
Calhoun  and  Webster  at  this  period.  They  showed 
themselves  to  be  statesmen,  like  Sir  Kobert  Peel  and 
Gladstone,  rather  than  mere  politicians  such  as  have 
generally  been  elected  to  succeed  them. 

There  is  only  one  other  Jacksonian  subject  to  which 
the  limits  of  this  sketch  will  allow  me  to  allude,  and  that 
is  the  nullification  movement  in  South  Carolina,  which 
grew  out  of  a  jealousy  of  Northern  growth  and  the 
tenacity  of  slave  institutions,  leading  to  that  great  parlia- 
mentary discussion  in  which  Webster  and  Hayne  were 


XXX  FOUR  HUNDRED   YEARS 

the  combatants.  To  the  credit  of  General  Jackson  that 
movement  was  summarily  put  down.  In  this  affair  the 
imperious  military  president — who  was  patriotically  de- 
voted to  the  Union — rendered  an  important  public 
service,  the  result  of  which  was  to  stave  off  the  slavery 
contest  until  the  country  was  better  prepared  for  it. 
Moreover,  it  must  be  admitted  that,  stormy  as  was  the 
administration  of  Jackson,  and  high-handed  as  were 
some  of  his  most  important  measures,  the  country  was 
seemingly  never  more  prosperous.  His  sturdy  will  was 
serviceable  also  in  favorable  settlements  of  outstanding 
disputes  with  foreign  nations — France,  Spain,  Naples 
and  Denmark,  besides  some  important  foreign  treaties. 
Nor  was  the  country  ever  marked  by  grander  popular 
agitations  leading  to  an  enlightened  public  opinion  on 
national  issues.  The  whole  land  was  aroused  with  the 
eloquence  of  popular  orators  on  almost  every  subject  of 
human  interest,  and  remarkably  separated  from  ques- 
tions of  mere  material  welfare — discussions  and  lectures 
without  end  on  slavery,  on  peace  and  war,  on  temper- 
ance, and  on  every  other  social  reform.  The  platform, 
for  a  time,  seemed  to  be  as  great  a  power  as  the  pulpit 
or  the  press.  The  popular  discussions  of  that  day  pre- 
pared the  way  for  the  higher  grade  of  intellectual  speak- 
ers who  not  many  years  after  began  to  appear — the 
period  when  great  lecturers  arose  like  Everett,  Holmes, 
Emerson,  Giles,  Beecher,  Greeley,  Sumner,  Phillips,  fol- 
lowed by  Chapin,  Whipple,  Curtis  and  a  host  of  others 
whose  literary  disquisitions  were  nearly  as  exciting  as 
harangues  on  political  and  social  questions.  For  a 
generation  the  platform  held  its  own  as  a  great  popular 
power,  and  then  gradually  passed  away,  like  other 
fashions  useful  in  their  day,  to  be  succeeded  by  maga- 
zines a*nd  periodicals  whose  highest  triumph  is  at  the 
present  time  assisted  by  pictorial  art. 

Concerning  the  strife  of  parties  and  the  succession 


OF  AMERICAN   HISTORY.  XXXf 

of  administrations  after  Jackson,  I  need  say  nothing. 
Ordinary  political  history,  after  all,  is  only  a  strand  in 
the  rope.  True  history  embraces  the  development  of 
agriculture  and  manufactures,  of  science,  of  art,  of  litera- 
ture, of  morals,  and  of  religion  as  well — all  social  growth 
— a  boundless  field,  which  no  historian  can  fully  master. 

The  prominent  element  of  interest  in  the  history  of 
the  United  States,  from  Jackson  to  Lincolu,  is  almost  un- 
written except  in  statistical  tables,  and  that  was,  the  mar- 
vellous expansion  of  the  country  in  every  respect.  The 
tide  of  immigration  set  in  from  almost  every  European 
nation  until  it  modified  all  forms  of  American  life.  Not 
merely  the  poor  and  the  miserable,  but  the  enterprising 
and  adventurous  sought  the  western  continent  to  improve 
their  condition,  until  the  whole  country  was  settled  from 
the  Atlantic  to  the  Mississippi.  The  grain  of  mustard 
seed  had  become  a  tree  for  all  the  birds  of  the  air.  With 
the  progress  of  emigration  to  the  western  States  all 
kinds  of  industry  had  been  developed.  The  country  was 
getting  rich ;  the  national  debt  was  paid  off ;  colleges  were 
being  planted  in  every  State;  the  primeval  forests,  where 
the  red  man  had  roved  for  a  precarious  support  from 
his  bow  and  arrows,  had  become  fertile  fields ;  cereals 
were  exported  to  Europe  to  feed  starving  populations, 
while  peace  and  plenty  reigned  in  every  section  of  the 
land.  Never  was  a  country  more  bountifully  blessed. 
The  reports  of  its  wonderful  fertility,  its  industrial  re- 
sources, its  mechanical  inventions,  especially  in  the  ap- 
plication of  steam  to  machinery,  navigation  and  rapid 
transit,  its  philanthropical  enterprises,  its  educational 
movements  and  its  free  institutions,  reached  every  corner 
of  the  Old  World  and  turned  the  eyes  of  suffering  peoples 
to  this  poor  man's  paradise,  where  every  facility  was 
afforded  for  getting  an  honest  living,  unmolested  by 
government  enactments  and  the  tyranny  of  caste. 

The  accidental  discovery  of  gold  in  California  in  1848 


XXXL1  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS 

gave  a  fresh  impulse  to  emigration,  enterprise  and 
ambition.  Streams  of  western-bound  transmigration 
crossed  the  Plains,  passed  the  Rocky  mountains  and  the 
great  interior  basin,  and  found  lodgments  all  along  the 
route,  until  the  whole  continent  was  opened  up  to  colo- 
nists, from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  with  mines  of  un- 
told wealth  and  every  variety  of  fruits  and  cereals  known 
to  civilization ;  for  the  expanse  of  territory  provided 
every  diversity  of  climate,  from  seaboard  to  mountain- 
top,  from  the  tropics  to  the  ice ;  and  this  vast  continent 
was  peopled  by  a  few  people,  under  -a  centralized  but 
almost  unf  elt  government  at  Washington,  of  whose  power 
the  makers  of  the  Constitution  j/ad  never  dreamed. 
Material  life  assumed  a  new  aspect,  and  gigantic  fortunes 
arose  far  exceeding  those  known  to  ancient  aristocracies. 
But  there  was  one  dark  cloud  which,  amid  this  general 
prosperity,  arose  upon  the  horizon,  giving  intense  solic- 
itude to  statesmen  in  Congress  and  the  people  in  their 
assemblies,  and  this  was  the  agitation  caused  by  the  per- 
sistent growth  of  negro  slavery.  This,  little  by  little, 
entered  more  and  more  deeply  into  the  minds  of  the 
people,  and  at  last  became  a  new  political  force  of  ex- 
traordinary influence.  The  eyes  of  the  more  thrifty 
and  intelligent  part  of  the  nation  were  opened  to  the 
most  monstrous  absurdity  that  ever  confronted  the 
human  intellect: — that  from  three  to  five  millions  of  peo- 
ple were  ground  down  by  hopeless  and  bitter  slavery  un- 
der a  Constitution  which  proclaimed  unbounded  liberty; 
and,  further,  that  this  bondage  was  intolerable,  cruel,  in- 
human, hopeless — that  there  was  no  apparent  remedy  for 
the  most  disgraceful  injustice  under  the  sun,  and  that 
the  mere  agitation  of  the  subject  created  bitter  animosi- 
ties among  freemen  themselves,  and  threatened  National 
disunion.  Gradually  all  other  subjects  of  legislation 
paled  before  the  tremendous  issues  which  became  obvi- 
ous to  every  thinking  mind.     Even  tariffs  and  internal 


OF  AMERICAN   HISTORY.  XXXlii 

improvements,  which  had  been  for  forty  years  the 
leading  subjects  of  discussion  in  Congress,  lost  their  in- 
terest in  comparison  with  the  mighty  evil  which  appar- 
ently was  to  divide  the  North  from  the  South  and  make 
two  rival  and  hostile  nations  instead  of  one  united  power. 
Congressional  and  even  Presidential  elections  began  to 
hinge  on  their  connection  with  the  slavery  agitation. 
Those  very  men  whom  we  now  venerate  as  the  most  en» 
lightened  and  philanthropic  of  patriots  were  maligned, 
slandered  and  persecuted,  because  they  strove  to  en- 
lighten the  National  conscience  as  to  the  evils  of  slavery. 
Animosities  daily  increased  between  statesmen  from  dif- 
ferent sections  of  the  country.  The  South  looked  with 
alarm  and  hatred  upon  all  who  advocated  human  rights, 
and  with  jealousy  at  the  growing  power  of  the  free 
States,  while  the  North  beheld  with  astonishment  and  in- 
dignation the  outrages  which  slave-owners  inflicted  on 
the  most  patient  and  gentle  people  who  ever  endured  the 
yoke  of  bondage,  and  with  apprehension  saw  them 
reaching  out  after  more  territory, — for,  as  the  thrift- 
less labor  exhausted  the  soil,  slavery  must  expand  or  die. 
Such  a  state  of  things  could  not  last  amid  the  mighty 
commotions  of  the  nineteenth  century.  The  inevitable 
conflict  must  come.  The  blinded  South  would  not  listen 
to  reason  or  humanity,  and  became  the  aggressor,  with 
the  main  object  of  increasing  slave  territory  and  divid- 
ing the  Union.  In  vain  the  eloquent  memories  of  Clay 
and  Webster,  the  adroitness  of  Douglas  and  Seward: 
Southern  leaders,  like  Calhoun  and  Hayne,  had  pre- 
pared the  Southern  mind  for  disunion,  under  the  plea 
of  State  sovereignty,  which  Southern  politicians  had 
ever  advocated,  foreseeing  difficulties  which  they  dared 
not  openly  discuss.  The  extension  and  intensification  of 
the  contest  over  Kansas  and  the  new  States,  the  disrup- 
tion of  the  Missouri  Compromise  in  the  interest  of 
slavery,  the  growth  of  the  anti-slavery  sentiment  in  the 


XXXIV  F0TJB   HUNDRED   YEARS 

North,  and  the  election  of  Lincoln  as  President,  were 
skilfully  nsed  to  "fire  the  Southern  heart"  to  overt 
rebellion ;  the  guns  of  organized  State  treason  at  length 
fired  upon  the  Federal  Fort  Sumter,  and  the  mightiest 
contest  of  modern  times  was  fairly  opened. 

It  is  not  my  object  to  present  even  the  outline  of  that 
tremendous  war,  the  details  of  which  are  narrated  with 
accuracy  and  candor  in  the  work  before  us,  in  the  course 
of  which  such  great  names  as  Lincoln,  Grant,  Lee  and 
others  became  prominent  and  immortal.  What  can  be 
said  in  a  few  sentences  of  a  contest  which  lasted  four 
years  and  in  which  more  than  a  million  of  men  perished, 
and  from  five  to  eight  thousand  millions  of  dollars  were 
expended  ?  The  sincere  but  misguided  State  patriotism 
of  the  South  made  a  magnificent  fight,  and  the  triumph 
of  the  North  was  won  not  so  much  by  superior  genius 
and  patriotic  fervor  as  by  its  overwhelming  strength,  to 
which  the  Southern  leaders  had  been  blind  because  it 
was  latent. 

The  life  of  any  one  of  the  prominent  generals  pre- 
sents more  material  for  history  than  the  whole  military 
career  of  Washington,  and  the  short  administration  of 
Lincoln  more  than  that  of  the  united  lives  of  all  the  pre- 
vious Presidents.  Who  can  present,  within  the  narrow 
limits  of  an  introductory  essay,  the  patience,  the  forti- 
tude, the  sagacity  and  the  patriotism  of  the  man  whom 
Providence  raised  up  from  humble  life  to  guide  the  for- 
tunes of  a  mighty  nation  ?  And  who  in  a  few  lines  can 
show  the  military  genius  of  the  great  generals  who 
brought  the  war  to  a  successful  issue  ? 

What  was  this  issue  ?  It  was  the  liberation  of  millions 
of  slaves  whose  cries  of  despair  had  ascended  to  heaven. 
It  was  the  wiping  out  of  a  National  disgrace  which  in- 
sulted humanity.  It  was  the  preservation  of  a  Union 
whose  mission  for  good  is  infinite.  It  was  the  final  ele- 
vation of  the  Southern  half  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  popula- 


OF   AMERICAN   HISTORY.  XXXV 

tion  of  America  to  an  equality  with  the  triumphant 
North,  and  the  development  of  resources  which  South- 
ern politicians  never  dreamed  of  in  the  most  prosperous 
period  of  their  old-time  power.  It  was  the  opening  up 
of  Southern  territory  to  trade,  manufactures  and  indus- 
tries which  have  almost  revolutionized  it.  It  was  the 
burial  of  a  subject  of  contention  which  had  kept  forty 
millions  of  people  in  perpetual  conflict,  and  the  removal 
of  which  left  them  free  to  pursue  their  wonderful 
career. 

With  the  close  of  the  Civil  War  a  renewed  and  still 
more  marvellous  expansion  of  energies  took  place  in 
every  part  of  the  land,  and  in  every  conceivable  form. 
The  increase  in  wealth  and  industries  was  perfectly 
amazing.  The  mind  is  bewildered  by  their  contempla- 
tion. It  is  like  surveying  the  stars  rather  than  the 
moon.  No  intellect  can  grasp  the  mighty  development 
in  mines,  in  agricultural  wealth,  in  commerce,  in  manu- 
factures, in  inventions,  in  steam  navigation,  in  railways, 
in  the  electrical  applications  of  power,  in  education,  in 
philanthropy,  in  the  erection  of  churches,  in  the  endow- 
ment of  colleges  and  schools,  in  the  spread  of  liberal 
ideas.  Even  Canada  may  practically  become  an  integral 
part  of  this  great  Anglo-Saxon  empire.  The  little 
mountain  stream  is  now  a  mighty  river  whose  tribu- 
taries fertilize  millions  of  square  miles  of  soil  as  rich  as 
the  Babylonian  plains.  The  little  sapling  at  Plymouth 
Rock  is  now  a  tree  whose  branches  conceal  the  heaven 
itself.  Where  is  the  end  to  be  ?  What  country  has 
such  sublime  destinies  ?  A  generation  has  not  passed 
away  since  the  war  without  seeing  the  population  of  the 
country  doubled,  and  its  wealth,  real  and  personal,  in- 
creased to  more  than  sixty  thousand  millions  of  dollars. 

Thus  are  all  events  overruled  for  good.  The  war, 
which  some  thought  would  exhaust  and  ruin  the  country, 
opened  channels  of  unexpected  development.      Thus 


XXXVI  FOUR  HUNDRED  YEARS 

is  Providence  prodigal  of  the  sufferings  and  the  lives  of 
men,  and  still  more  of  their  wealth,  to  bring  forth,  out 
of  disaster,  blessings  which  could  never  be  foreseen. 
This  is  the  most  impressive  lesson  which  history  teaches, 
seen  alike  in  the  struggles  of  ancient  Greece  and  the 
conflicts  of  most  modern  nations — the  everlasting  burn- 
ing of  the  world-phoenix  to  send  forth  undying  hopes 
and, bring  about  perpetual  progress. 

All  this  is  the  bright  side  of  the  picture.  There  is, 
alas !  another  side,  f raugljfc  with  great  peril,  bringing 
solicitude  to  every  thoughtful  mind. 

All  countries  have  peculiar  dangers  and  difficulties  to 
contend  with,  which  sap  the  foundations  of  true  National 
prosperity.  In  the  old  Roman  world  disproportionate 
fortunes,  slavery,  egotism  and  social  vices  undermined 
the  moral  health  and  prepared  the  way  for  violence. 
There  was  no  material  on  which  conservative  forces 
could  work.  In  modern  Europe  another  class  of  evils 
give  grave  solicitude  to  thinking  men.  In  one  country 
we  see  hard  military  despotism,  vast  standing  armies, 
perpetual  preparations  for  war  which  divert  industry 
from  its  legitimate  channels.  In  another  country  there 
are  popular  discontents,  socialism,  communism,  nihilism, 
threatening  the  war  of  classes  and  the  overthrow  of 
established  institutions.  We  see  in  other  quarters  com- 
binations of  labor  against  combinations  of  capital,  fearful 
to  behold,  the  end  of  which  no  mortal  can  predict.  "We 
notice  in  some  nations  an  intolerable  religious  des- 
potism, paralyzing  energies  and  destroying  all  indi- 
vidual independence  of  mind,  and  in  other  countries 
the  opposite  evil — rampant  infidelity,  the  destruction  of 
religious  faith,  lax  morality,  and  an  insensibility  to  re- 
ligious impressions.  Some  countries  are  nearly  ruined 
by  intemperance,  and  others  by  disgraceful  licentious- 
ness. Wherever  we  turn  our  eyes,  there  is  something 
pregnant  with  dangers,  and,  seemingly,  almost  impossi- 


OF  AMERICAN   HISTORY.  XXXV11 

ble  to  eradicate — all  fatal  to  healthy  development ;  seeds 
of  ruin ;  sources  of  despair. 

In  the  United  States,  with  their  wonderful  growth, 
unbounded  energies,  and  intense  life,  there  are  some 
peculiar  perils  which,  unless  averted,  may  undermine 
what  is  most  to  be  valued ;  and  they  are  all  the  more  to 
be  dreaded  because  they  make  but  little  impression  on 
the  common  mind. 

One  of  these  is  the  inordinate  value  attached  to  mere 
material  wealth.  If  you  discuss  the  destinies  of  America 
with  a  boastful  optimist  he  will  be  very  apt  to  speak  of 
the  inexhaustible  mines  of  gold,  silver,  iron  and  other 
metals,  enough  to  buy  the  industries  of  the  whole  world, 
and  make  the  country  rich,  even  if  no  wheat  or  cotton 
were  exported  to  Europe.  Or  he  may  point  to  the  vast 
plains  under  cultivation,  producing  grain  enough  to 
supply  the  wants  of  Europe,  after  using  all  we  need  for 
ourselves.  Or  he  may  enumerate  the  miles  of  railway — 
ten  times  more  than  would  circle  the  whole  earth,  bring- 
ing every  conceivable  product  of  the  land  to  the  sea- 
board. He  might  enumerate  the  millions  of  hogs  slaugh- 
tered in  Cincinnati,  Chicago  and  Kansas  City,  the 
innumerable  cattle  which  Texas  sends  to  the  East,  the 
hogsheads  of  wine  and  brandy  which  enable  California 
to  compete  with  the  vineyards  of  Europe.  Everything 
centres  in  his  eye  on  material  wealth,  and  the  luxuries 
which  wealth  secures.  When  a  foreigner  travels  in  this 
country  it  is  the  vast  and  undeveloped  resources  of  the 
West  which  most  astonish  him.  The  common  eye  sees 
chiefly  the  colossal  production  of  the  country,  and  glories 
in  the  boundless  results  which  are  sure  to  reward  miners, 
agriculturists,  and  manufacturers  alike.  It  is  this  ma- 
terial life  in  which  an  immense  majority  seem  to  glory 
as  the  highest  object  of  desire.  Hence  the  adoration  of 
rich  men,  the  only  aristocrats  whom  society  here  recog- 
nizes, and  in  whom  power  seems  to  be  centralized.  There 


XXXVL11  FOUR  HUNDRED  YEARS 

are  philanthropists  who  found  colleges ;  but  even  col- 
leges are  being  more  and  more  utilized  for  science  to 
develop  material  forces — adapting  their  supply  of  learn- 
ing to  the  material  demands  of  the  age.  There  are  re- 
ligious people  who  build  churches ;  but  these  must  be 
so  expensively  constructed  and  so  splendidly  decorated 
that  poor  people  cannot  afford  to  worship  in  them. 
Everybody  is  ambitious  to  live  in  a  fine  house,  and  the 
wealthy  rival  the  ancient  Romans  in  the  luxury  of  their 
tables  and  the  gorgeousness  of  their  furniture.  It  is 
these  things  to  which  most  people  "  point  with  pride," 
as  the  political  party  platforms  phrase  it.  Even  political 
aspiration  is  cast  aside  for  money.  This  unconscious  ad- 
miration of  material  power  is  nearly  universal,  and  is 
demoralizing,  because  we  put  our  trust  in  it  as  being  our 
happiness  and  strength.  We  lean  on  money  more  than 
on  friends.  In  short,  it  is  with  most  people  the  object 
of  idolatry;  and  the  further  we  go  from  the  old  seats  of 
ancestral  pride,  the  more  universal,  the  more  offensive, 
and  the  more  vulgar  is  this  worship,  permeating  all 
thoughts,  and  animating  existence  itself. 

I  would  not  declaim  against  what  is  as  great  an  evil 
in  Europe  as  in  America,  and  was  always  an  evil 
among  all  nations.  Nor  do  I  suppose  that  we  shall  be 
ruined  and  wiped  out  like  the  ancient  Babylonians  and 
Romans.  What  unknown  barbarians  can  conquer  us? 
We  shall  neither  be  depopulated  nor  exhausted,  come 
what  will.  The  danger  is,  that  we  shall  be  demoralized  ; 
that  we  shall  lose  that  fervid  faith  in  unseen  realities 
that  animated  the  best  of  the  early  settlers ;  that  the  real 
grandeur  of  life  will  be  lost  sight  of ;  that  we  shall  be- 
come commonplace,  and  that  the  noblest  efforts  of  phil- 
anthropists and  thinkers  will  be  paralyzed  by  this  undue 
appreciation  of  physical  development.  No  doubt  the 
spirit  of  enterprise,  the  thirst  for  accomplishing  great 
deeds,  exultation  in  the  power  to  bring  things  to  pass,  is 


OF   AMERICAN    HISTORY.  XXXIX 

chiefly  the  conscious  motive  of  American  efficiency  ;  but 
men  easily  deceive  themselves.  The  idol  is  soon  wor- 
shiped rather  than  the  god  it  stands  for ;  the  letter  is 
valued  above  the  spirit  that  created  it ;  and  America  is 
in  peril  of  losing  aspiration  in  sordidness. 

Now,  if  the  discovery  of  America  was  intended  merely 
to  open  a  new  field  for  the  development  of  material 
forces,  then  Columbus  crossed  the  unknown  ocean  in 
vain ;  he  only  opened  the  way  for  a  renewal  of  the 
same  old  experiments  which  ruined  the  ancient  world. 
Doubtless  America  is  destined  to  eclipse  all  other  na- 
tions in  the  splendor  of  its  civilization,  and  it  is  also 
probable  that  the  seat  of  political  power  will  be  in  those 
new  States  which  were  a  wilderness  even  fifty  years  ago. 
No  one  can  exaggerate  the  material  glories  which  will 
blaze  in  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi  and  away  over  the 
prairies,  and  beyond  the  mountains  to  the  farther  sea. 

And  what  then  ?  Grant  the  most  indefinite  expansion 
of  wealth  and  power.  Is  it  to  be  the  old  story  of  Babylon, 
Egypt,  Borne  ?  What  is  the  uniform  lesson  of  all  the 
ages  ?  Industry ;  wealth  ;  corruption  ;  decay ;  ruin. 
No  matter  how  broad  and  how  splendid  a  mere  material 
civilization  may  be,  it  is  built  upon  the  sand.  What  is 
the  body  of  a  man  I  His  soul  only — himself — it  is,  that 
is  precious  and  immortal.  Whatever  degrades  the  soul  is 
a  poison  which  destroys  the  body.  Material  glories  are 
likely  to  blind  us  as  to  our  true  and  higher  destinies. 
Make  New  York  a  second  Carthage,  Philadelphia  a 
second  Antioch,  Chicago  a  second  Babylon,  and  Wash- 
ington a  second  Rome,  and  we  simply  repeat  the  old 
achievements  which  ended  in  dismal  failure.  There  is  no 
reason,  drawn  from  human  experience,  why  this  country 
should  escape  the  fate  of  all  other  nations,  not  in  the 
extinction  of  their  population,  but  in  the  extinction  of 
their  glories — unless  spiritual  forces  shall  arise  which 
will  counteract  the  downward  tendency  in  morals  and 


XI  K)UR   HUNDRED   YEARS 

spiritual  life.  If  America  has  a  great  mission  to  fulfill 
she  must  put  forth  those  agencies  and  proclaim  those 
ideas  which  elevate  the  soul,  and  which  will  save  other 
nations  also.  No  stretch  of  territory,  no  richness  of 
mines,  no  fertile  fields  of  corn,  no  money-making  mills, 
are  anything,  in  the  loftiest  aspect,  if  true  life  has  fled. 

And  hence  it  is  emancipating  ideas  and  enlightened 
modes  of  education  at  home,  and  Christian  missions  to 
extend  our  best  good  to  needy  nations  abroad,  which 
should  be  the  objects  of  highest  aim,  if  America  is  to 
fulfill  its  peculiar  privilege  in  promoting  the  elevation 
and  happiness  of  mankind.  The  final  value  of  the  dis- 
covery and  settlement  of  America  must  be  established 
not  so  much  in  feeding  uncounted  millions,  to  pass  away 
like  the  leaves  of  the  forest,  as  in  creating  new  institu- 
tions and  social  conditions,  which  shall  spread  throughout 
the  world.  Thus  only  can  we  even  conserve  the  glories 
of  which  we  boast. 

Another  subject  of  solicitude  to  a  patriotic  American 
is  the  problem  of  what  shall  be  done  for  the  emancipated 
colored  people  of  the  South.  That  is  a  question  peculiar 
to  ourselves,  and  which  we  alone  can  solve.  The  rapid 
increase  of  the  colored  population  may  not  endanger  our 
institutions  or  affect  the  prosperity  of  the  East  and 
West.  On  the  contrary,  the  unfortunate  people  whom  we 
freed  from  bondage,  and  to  whom  we,  perhaps  unwisely, 
gave  political  rights,  may  yet  be  scattered  throughout 
the  land ;  and  they  will  inevitably  find  the  political  and 
industrial  level  to  which  they  become  adapted,  although 
social  intermixture  with  the  whites  seems  neither  possi- 
ble nor  desirable ;  nor  will  they  weaken  the  resources  of 
the  South,  but  will  rather  develop  them.  Yet  their 
condition  is  most  pitiable.  Even  Fred  Douglass,  in  a 
lecture  on  their  sad  life,  intimated,  in  my  hearing,  that, 
in  spite  of  all  that  had  been  gained  by  many  of  them, 
the  condition  of  the  great  mass  was  not  substantially  im- 


OF  AMERICAN   HISTORY,  jdi 

proved  by  emancipation — that  they  were  still  largely  in 
the  power  of  the  whites;  that  they  were  still 
often  oppressed,  and  miserable,  ignorant  and  degraded, 
and  might  hereafter,  with  their  rapid  increase,  become  a 
dangerous  element  in  our  civilization. 

Something  ought  to  be  done  for  a  people  who  have 
been  subjected  to  so  great  injustice.  There  is  no  ap- 
parent remedy  for  the  increasing  cloud  of  portentous 
evil  but  iu  their  education,  to  make  them  citizens  whom 
we  fear  not ;  and  who  is  to  educate  them  ?  They  must 
be  taught  by  those  who  are  stronger  and  wiser.  The 
Southern  whites  are  slow  to  teach  and  help  them,  but 
at  times  even  insult  and  isolate  the  philanthropic  teachers 
who  come  to  save  them ;  although  in  many  localities 
these  old  prejudices  are  passing  away  as  the  whites  begin 
to  see  the  higher  worth  of  intelligent  laborers.  This  is 
marked,  for  instance,  with  regard  to  the  Hampton  Insti- 
tute for  Negroes  and  Indians,  some  of  the  best  friends 
of  which  are  Southern  men.  The  material  wealth  of 
the  Nation  must  be  utilized  in  their  favor — must  be 
turned  in  a  channel  of  goodness  and  benevolence.  No 
feeble  charity,  no  pittance  of  superfluous  wealth,  will 
avail  anything.  Donations  large  and  free,  not  only  of 
private  but  of  public  moneys — not  thousands  of  dollars 
but  millions — should  be  contributed  to  give  them 
common  schools,  industrial  training-schools  and  colleges ; 
not  directly  to  teach  the  masses  of  ignorant  and  depraved 
humanity,  but  especially  to  educate  the  better  class  of 
them,  to  raise  up  colored  teachers  who  can  best  instruct 
their  fellow-sufferers. 

The  boon  which  Abraham  Lincoln  conferred  upon  the 
slaves  as  a  war  measure  will  not  turn  out  so  great  a  bless- 
ing as  was  supposed,  until  some  National  aid  for  their 
further  emancipation  from  ignorance  and  brutality  shall 
be  appropriated  to  their  education  by  our  National 
Legislature,  as  a  National  necessity. 


Xlii  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS 

Much  the  same  line  of  thought  applies  to  the  remnants 
of  our  aboriginal  Indian  tribes  who,  as  "  Wards  of  the 
Nation,"  might  well  accuse  us  of  a  gross  and  gigantic 
breach  of  trust.  The  efforts  making  to  educate  the 
Indians,  both  in  private  and  Governmental  schools  in  the 
West  and  in  the  Hampton  and  Carlisle  institutions  in  the 
East,  give  most  encouraging  results.  They  promise  to 
fit  these  people  for  a  reasonable  use  of  the  freedom  and 
responsibity  that  will  be  theirs  when  the  Government 
divides  their  lands  to  them  in  individual  severalty  instead 
of  by  tribes,  and  when  they  put  their  nobler  qualities  of 
truthfulness  and  self-respect  to  work  in  the  sphere  of 
American  citizenship. 

We  should  not  too  harshly  criticise  our  uncivilized 
"  inferior  races,"  for  we  ourselves  have  much  to  learn  in 
the  practice  of  Christianity,  honesty  and  common  fair 
dealing,  when  our  Government,  legislative  and  execu- 
tive together,  unites  in  making  a  "Chinese  exclusion 
law,"  in  plain  contravention  of  existing  treaties.  That 
has  been  done  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1892. 

I  allude  to  but  one  more  evil,  threatening  to  sap  the 
moral  health  of  the  Nation,  and  reducing  our  boasted  lib- 
erty to  a  scandal  and  a  failure — especially  in  cities,  to  which 
the  people  are  more  and  more  flocking  with  alarming  ea- 
gerness— and  that  is,  corruption  and  venality  in  elections. 
I  will  not  dwell  on  this  disease,  since  I  see  no  remedy 
until  the  whole  moral  tone  of  society  is  raised,  and  that 
is  not  to  be  done  by  machinery.  If  the  integrity  of 
popular  elections  is  destroyed  we  must  be  ruled  by  dem- 
agogues and  bosses  controlling  the  votes  of  ignorant 
foreigners.  No  combinations  of  capital  and  occasional 
bursts  of  indignant  eloquence  can  remove  the  evil.  It  is 
the  most  deeply  seated  and  fatal  calamity  that  can  possi- 
bly threaten  the  friends  of  Constitutional  liberty.  If 
Thomas  Jefferson,  who  was  among  the  first  and  was  the 
most  potent  to  open  the  door  to  universal  suffrage,  could 


OF   AMERICAN    HISTOBYo  xliii 

now  see  the  results  of  his  policy,  his  bones  would  rattle 
in  his  coffin.  All  elective  governments  are  liable  to  this 
misfortune;  but  here  the  intelligent  voters  and  tax- 
payers are  on  the  one  hand  so  devoted  to  their  private 
enterprises,  and  on  the  other  such  blind  worshipers  of 
the  party  fetich,  that  the  unscrupulous  politician  has  be- 
come a  professional  worker  and  power.  Bribery  is  no- 
where so  unblushing  and  disgraceful  as  in  this  country, 
in  consequence  of  which  we  have  incompetent  and  dis- 
honest rulers,  with  their  eyes  open,  not  to  good  which 
they  might  do  and  evils  which  they  might  remove,  but 
to  the  spoils  of  office.  This  subject  is  too  painful  to  en- 
large upon,  but  is,  nevertheless,  mixed  up  with  Ameri- 
can destinies.  It  will  never  be  eliminated  till  intelligent 
Americans  take  again  a  lively  interest  in  public  affairs 
and  refuse  to  be  herded  at  the  polls  by  ambitious  party 
leaders.  A  beginning  of  betterment  has  been  made,  in 
the  adoption  of  the  Australian  method  of  secret  ballot- 
ing at  elections,  in  many  of  the  States.  Public  opinion 
is  slowly  awakening,  and  the  true  citizen  may  hope  for 
a  gradual  emancipation  from  corrupt  elections ;  but  let 
no  one  boast  of  our  material  triumphs  while  this 
abomination  exists  in  the  very  citadel  of  our  liberties. 

The  dangers  which  some  deplore  in  immigration,  in 
Mormonism,  and  in  Roman  Catholicism  I  fail  to  see,  at 
least  to  any  alarming  extent.  Immigration  planted  the 
West  and  developed  its  industries.  Why  should  not  the 
poor  and  miserable  of  foreign  lands  have  a  share  in  a 
boundless  inheritance  ?  It  is  not  necessary  that  they 
should  always  be  ignorant.  They  are  as  civilized  as  our 
own  remote  ancestors,  and  they  have  as  noble  aspirations. 
They  have  already  largely  amalgamated  with  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  race.  Mormonism  is  only  a  spot  upon  a  sun,  and 
must  fade  away  with  advancing  light  unless  more  deeply 
impregnated  with  evil  than  I  am  inclined  to  believe ; 
while  Catholicism  has  a  mission  to  fulfill  among  people 


Xliv  FOUR   HUNDRED   YEARS 

still  enslaved  by  the  dogmas  and  superstitions  o£  tliO 
Middle  Ages.  Grasping  as  the  Catholics  are  of  political 
power,  it  is  because  they  had  none  in  the  countries  from 
which  they  came,  and  their  new  privileges  are  all  the 
dearer  from  their  former  political  insignificance.  Every 
succeeding  generation  becomes  more  enlightened  and 
more  impressible  by  grand  ideas.  They  are  still  the 
most  religious,  and  in  some  respects  the  most  moral,  of 
all  our  colonists;  and  their  priests  are  the  most  hard- 
worked  and  most  self-denying  of  all  our  clergy — teach- 
ing, with  all  their  prejudices  and  ecclesiastical  bondage, 
the  cardinal  principles  of  the  Christian  religion.  The 
Catholics  may  become  a  very  powerful  and  numerous  re- 
ligious party,  but  they  never  can  become  a  dominating 
power  while  faith  remains  in  the  agencies  which  have 
produced  so  wonderful  a  civilization  as  this,  nor  could 
the  Pope  encroach  largely  on  civil  freedom  in  this 
utilitarian  age,  even  were  he  so  disposed.  Indeed,  his 
recent  utterances,  as  to  both  French  and  American 
affairs,  seem  to  show  a  sagacious  sympathy  with  the 
political  tendencies  of  the  day. 

No  picture  can  be  true  which  does  not  show  the 
shadows  as  well  as  the  lights.  We  have  had  to  look  at 
some  dark  ones.  But  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  Amer- 
ica is  not  a  completed  country.  Much  of  the  great 
prospect  is  chaotic,  confused,  unsightly,  showing  piles 
of  dirt  and  accumulations  of  refuse  material — like  the 
building-ground  of  a  huge  edifice  during  construction. 
Such  rapid  advancement  in  nation-building  was  never 
made  before  on  the  earth,  because  all  classes  have  been 
free  and  interested  workers.  We  are  in  a  transition 
stage,  and  even  approximate  perfection  is  a  long  way 
off.  We  may  take  courage,  however,  in  the  knowledge 
that  not  only  is  our  edifice  well  founded — "broad-based 
upon  a  nation's  will " — but  that,  counteracting  against 
the  infelicities  and  tendencies  to  danger,  is  a  new  force 


OF  AMERICAN   HISTORY.  2iV 

arising  among  the  builders — the  thoughtful  and  the  de- 
votional alike — which  is  making  more  of  conduct  than 
of  creed,  more  of  piety  than  of  institutional  religion, 
more  of  individual  character  than  of  ecclesiastical  form. 
This  leaven  is  spreading  with  wholesome  infection,  and 
must  find  its  sphere  of  work  in  arousing  the  multitude 
of  individual  consciences  of  American  freemen  to  loftier 
standards  of  life  and  aspiration,  in  business,  in  all  kinds 
of  manual  labor,  in  politics,  in  law-making  and  law- 
keeping — briefly,  in  good  citizenship.  It  is  much  that 
a  land  has  been  found  large  and  rich  enough  to  raise  its 
people  out  of  the  degradation  of  poverty  to  a  higher 
plane  of  physical  and  social  life,  for  morals  and  intelli- 
gence follow  that.  And  there  is  great  hope  in  the  new 
popular  movements  in  favor  of  education, — the  Chautau- 
qua Circles  for  home  culture,  the  University  Extension 
for  giving  collegiate  instruction  to  non-collegiate  youth, 
the  libraries  and  reading  clubs,  the  societies  for  polit- 
ical, literary  and  socialistic  discussion,  the  literature- 
classes  among  women,  and  a  great  number  of  local  asso- 
ciations for  self-improvement  and  for  the  helping  of 
others,  from  which  radiate  newer  and  better  and  loftier 
influences  into  all  ranks  of  our  people — even  the  very 
lowest.  For  among  these  a  fresh  zeal  of  Christian  effort, 
aided  by  common  sense,  is  carrying  the  light  of  physi- 
cal cleanliness  and  comfort,  together  with  moral  and 
spiritual  light.  Moreover3  the  ancient  civilizations, 
whose  material  greatness  toppled  them  to  their  ruin, 
lacked  two  things  that  we  rely  on,  free  schools  and  an 
unfrrammeled  press.  Frequent  political  revolt  tends  to 
avert  the  more  destructive  armed  rebellion;  and  the 
growing  intelligence  of  our  youth,  with  the  atmosphere 
of  free  discussion  into  which  they  come  up,  will  prove, 
under  the  influence  of  Christianity,  a  vital  force  to  throw 
off  evil  as  well  as  to  propagate  good. 

I  have  but  a  word  more  to  say,  and  that  is  on  the  dig- 


xlvi  FOUR  HUNDRED  YEARS 

nity  and  utility  with  which  the  history  of  tliis  great 
nation  is  invested.  It  will  not  be  long  before  every  uni- 
versity of  Europe  will  have  a  chair  to  study  and  teach 
the  development  of  our  civilization.  Such  a  wonderful 
progress  in  a  hundred  years  cannot  pass  unnoticed  by  the 
students  of  the  Old  World.  Even  now  the  best  treatises 
on  our  political  institutions  have  been  written  by  a 
Frenchman,  a  German  and  an  Englishman,  and  are  used 
as  text-books  in  our  own  colleges.  The  field  of  Ameri- 
can history  cannot  be  exhausted  any  more  than  our  mines 
of  coal.  Everyone  who  writes  a  school-book  or  an  elab- 
orate survey  of  the  changes  through  which  we  have 
passed,  everyone  who  collates  a  statistical  table,  or  writes 
a  treatise  or  a  popular  epitome  of  leading  events,  is  a 
benefactor.  Everyone  who  paints  and  analyzes  a  great 
character  makes  an  addition  to  our  literature.  Even  the 
honest  and  industrious  expert  who  drags  out  of  oblivion 
the  driest  and  most  minute  details,  is  doing  something 
to  swell  the  tide  of  useful  knowledge  in  this  great  coun- 
try. Especially  useful  to  the  hard-pushed  student  or  the 
busy  man  must  be  any  reasonably  compact  record  of 
American  life  which  presents  the  essential  forces  and 
facts  that  have  produced  results.  Such  a  work  should 
not  only  show  the  annals  of  political,  military  and  indus- 
trial growth,  but  should  note  the  characteristics  of  the 
various  groups  of  colonists  and  the  social,  religious  and 
civic  elements  that  entered  with  influence  into  the  form- 
ative periods  of  our  composite  national  character.  It 
should  give  at  successive  points  analyses  of  the  princi- 
ples of  republican  government  and  their  American 
applications — f  rom  the  town-meeting  to  the  highest  Fed- 
eral departments.  It  should,  in  brief,  show  not  only  the 
results  and  processes,  but  the  reasons  for  them,  and  thus 
offer  wholesome  stimulant  to  the  reader's  mind. 

The  excellent  book  to  which  this  is  a  merely  sugges- 
tive introduction,  while  it  does  not  startle  us  by  brilliant 


'  OF   AMERICAN    HISTORY.  xlvii 

creative  generalization  nor  enter  upon  critical  specula- 
tions on  disputed  points,  makes  admirable  use  of  ac- 
cepted facts.  It  is  clear  in  style,  condensed  though 
interesting  in  narrative,  lofty  in  tone  and  truthful  in 
statement.  It  is  rather  remarkable  for  its  discriminating 
selection  of  events  and  influential  elements  to  be  set 
forth  and  for  its  lucid  presentation  of  them.  Professor 
Patton's  account  of  our  Four  Hundred  Years  of  American 
History  should  have  a  wide  circulation,  for  it  is  a 
valuable  contribution  to  the  cause  of  education  and 
popular  instruction. 

John  Lord. 
Stamford ',  Coruii.,  Jime^  1892. 


CONTENTS. 


VOLUME  I. 


SKETCH: 

The  History,  Greatness  and  Dangers  of  America,  by  John 
Lord,   D.D.,  LL.D., ix 


LIEF  ERICSSON, 
And  other  Norse  Adventurers,  9. 

CHAPTER  I. 

COLUMBUS. 

His  Discoveries,  12.  Misfortunes — Death,  15.  Amerigo  Vespucci 
and  the  name  America,  16. 

CHAPTER  II. 
American  Prehistoric  Races,  17. 

CHAPTER  III. 

SPANISH    DISCOVERIES    AND    CONQUESTS. 

South  Sea — First  Voyage  Round  the  World,  43.  Ponce  de  Leon, 
44.     Florida,  44.    Vasquez  de  Ayllon,  45.    Mexico  and  Peru,  46. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

ENGLISH    AND    FRENCH    DISCOVERIES. 

John  Cabot  discovers  the  American  Continent,  47.  His  son,  Sebas- 
tian, 48.  Voyages  of  Verrazzani,  49.  Voyages  of  Carrier,  50. 
Attempts  at  Settlement,  52. 

CHAPTER  V. 

DE   SOTO   AND    THE    MISSISSIPPI. 

Lands  at  Tampa  Bay,  55.     On  the  Mississippi,  57.    His  Death,  58. 
CHAPTER  VI. 

THE   REFORMATION   AND   ITS    EFFECTS. 

CHAPTER  VII. 

THE    HUGUENOTS    IN   THE    SOUTH. 

Settlement  destroyed,  62,  63.  St.  Augustine,  64.  De  Gourges,  66. 
Settlements  in  New  France,  67.     Champlain,  68. 

xlix 


1  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

ENGLISH  ENTERPRISE. 

Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert,  70.  The  Fisheries— St.  John's,  Newfound 
land,  71.'  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  71.  Exploring  Expedition— 
Virginia,  72.  Failures  to  colonize,  73.  Contest  with  Spain,  74. 
Death  of  Sir  Walter,  75. 

CHAPTER  IX. 

THE   SETTLEMENT  OP   VIRGINIA. 

London  and  Plymouth  Companies,  78.  King  James's  Laws,  78.  The 
Voyage  and  Arrival — Jamestown,  79.  John  Smith;  his  energy, 
79.  His  Captivity,  81.  Misery  of  the  Colonists,  82.  New  Emi- 
grants, 83.  Lord  Delaware,  84.  Sir  Thomas  Gates,  85.  Poca- 
hontas; her  Capture  and  Marriage,  86.  George  Yeardley,  87. 
First  Legislative  Assembly,  88. 

CHAPTER  X.  ; 

COLONIZATION  OF  NEW  ENGLAND. 

First  Voyage  to,  89.  Explorations  of  John  Smith,  90.  The  Church 
of  England,  91.  The  Puritans,  92.  Congregation  of  John  Rob- 
inson, 93.  Pilgrims  in  Holland,  94.  Arrangements  to  Emigrate, 
95.  The  Voyage,  97.  Their  prominent  Men,  98.  A  Constitu- 
tion adopted,  99.  Landing  at  Plymouth,  100.  Sufferings — 
Indians,  101.  Weston's  Men,  103.  Thanksgiving,  104.  Dem- 
ocratic Government,  105. 

CHAPTER  XI. 

COLONY  OP   MASSACHUSETTS  BAY. 

A  Company  organized;  Settlement  of  Salem,  107.  The  Charter 
transferred,  108.  Boston  and  Vicinity  settled,  109.  Roger 
Williams:  his  Banishment;  he  founds  Providence,  110.  Dis- 
cussions renewed — Anne  Hutcninson;  Settlement  of  Rhode 
Island,  112,  113.  The  Dutch  at  Hartford;  Disputes  with,  113, 
Migrations  to  the  Connecticut;  Hooker  and  Haynes,  114. 
Pequod  War,  116.  Rev.  John  Davenport;  Settlement  of  New 
Haven,  120.  Sir  Ferdinand  Gorges;  New  Hampshire,  121.  The 
United  Colonies,  122.  Educated  Men;  Harvard  College,  Print- 
ing Press,  Common  Schools,  123.  Quakers:  Persecution  of,  124. 
Eliot  the  Apostle — the  Mayhews,  125,  126.  Inner  Life  of  the 
Colonists,  126.  The  Tithing  Man,  127.  The  title  of  Mr.,  128. 
Progress,  129. 

CHAPTER  XII. 

VIRGINIA  AND  MARYLAND. 

Slavery— Massacre  by  the  Indians,  130.  King  James's  Sympathies, 
131.     Lord  Baltimore,  133.     Settlement  of  Maryland,  134.    Clay- 


CONTENTS.  li 

borne's  Rebellion,  135.  Toleration— Berkeley,  Governor  of 
Virginia,  intolerance,  136.  State  of  Society,  137.  Aristocratic 
Assembly,  138.  War  with  the  Susquehannas — Nathaniel  Bacon, 
139.  Disturbances,  Obnoxious  Assembly  dissolved,  140.  James- 
town burned;  Death  of  Bacon,  141.  Tyranny  of  Berkeley; 
Aristocratic  Assembly;  its  Illiberal  Acts,  142.  Deplorable  state 
of  the  Colony,  143.  College  of  William  and  Mary,  144.  Troub- 
les in  Maryland,  145 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

COLONIZATION  OP  NEW  YORK. 

Hudson's  Discoveries,  146.  A  Change  wrought,  147.  The  Fort  on 
the  Isle  of  Manhattan,  148.  Walloons — the  first  Settlers — Peter 
Minuits,  149.  The  Patroons;  Van  Twiller  Governor,  150. 
Kieft  his  Successor,  151.  Difficulties  with  the  Indians,  152. 
They  seek  Protection;  their  Massacre,  153.  Peace  concluded, 
156.  Stuyvesant  Governor,  157.  The  Swedish  Settlement  on 
the  Delaware ;  Pavonia,  158.  New  Netherlands  Surrendered  to 
England,  160.  The  Influence  of  the  Dutch,  161.  Settlements 
in  New  Jersey;  Scotch  Presbyterians,  163. 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

COLONIZATION  OP  PENNSYLVANIA. 

The  Quakers,  164.  William  Penn;  his  Education,  165.  Obtains  a 
Charter,  167.  Lands  at  New  Castle;  Philadelphia  Founded,  168. 
Rights  of  the  Indians,  169.  German  Emigrants,  170.  Fletcher 
the  Royal  Governor,  171.  New  Charter  granted  the  People — 
Presbyterians  from  Ireland  and  Scotland,  172.  Trials  of  Penn; 
his  Death— Benjamin  Franklin,  173. 

CHAPTER  XV. 

COLONIZATION  OP  THE  CAROLLNAS. 

The  first  Settlers,  175.  Grants  to  Royal  Favorites— The  "Grand 
Model,"  176.  Settlement  at  Cape  Fear  River— Sir  John  Yea- 
mans,  177.  Emigrants  under  Sayle,  178.  The  Huguenots,  179. 
The  People  Independent,  180.  Churchmen  and  Dissenters,  181. 
Rice— Manufactures  prohibited,  182.  War— Failure  to  capture 
St.  Augustine,  183.  The  ruin  of  the  Apalachees,  184.  Religious 
Controversies,  185.  German  Emigrants,  186.  Indian  Wars,  187. 
The  People  repudiate  the  Authority  of  the  Proprietaries,  189. 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

COLONIZATION  OP  GEORGIA. 

Founded  in  Benevolence— Oglethorpe,  190.  First  Imigration,  191. 
Savannah — Encouragements,  192.  Germans  from  the  Western 
Alps,  193.  The  Moravians— Scotch  Highlanders,  195.  The  Wes- 
leys — Whitefield;  his  Orphan  House,  196.     War  with  Spain,  its 


xlii  CONTENTS. 

Cause,  197.  Failure  to  capture  St.  Augustine,  198.  Repulse  of 
the  Spanish  Invaders,  199.  The  Colony  becomes  a  Royal  Prov- 
ince, 200. 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

NEW  ENGLAND  UNDER  CHARLES  II.  AND  JAMES  II. 

The  Restoration,  201.  The  Commissioners — Progress  of  Trade,  202. 
Causes  of  King  Philip's  War,  203.  Death  of  Wamsutta,  204. 
State  of  the  Colony — Attack  at  Swanzey,  205.  Philip  among 
the  Nipmucks,  206.     Attacks  on  Northfield— on  Hadley,  Goffe, 

207.  Tragedy  at  Bloody  Brook — The  Narraganset  Fort  destroyed, 

208.  Philip  returns  to  Mount  Hope  to  die,  209.  The  Disasters 
of  the  War,  210.  James  II. — his  Intolerance,  211.  The  Char- 
ters in  Danger — Andros  Governor — his  Illegal  Measures,  212. 
Charter  of  Rhode  Island  taken  away— Andros  at  Hartford,  213. 
Andros  in  Jail;  the  Charters  resumed,  214.  The  Men  of  influ- 
ence, 215. 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

COMMOTION  IN  NEW  YORK — WITCHCRAFT  IN  MASSACHUSETTS. 

Leisler  acting  Governor  of  New  York,  216.  The  Old  Council  re- 
fuses to  yield — Sloughter,  Governor,  217.  Trial  and  Execution 
of  Leisler  and  Melbourne,  218.  Benjamin  Fletcher,  Governor; 
his  failure  at  Hartford,  219.  Yale  College,  220.  The  Triumph 
of  a  Free  Press,  221.  Witchcraft;  belief  in,  222.  Cotton 
Mather,  223.  Various  Persons  accused  at  Salem,  224.  Stough- 
ton  as  Judge,  and  Parris  as  Accuser,  225.  Minister  Burroughs, 
226.  Calef 's  Pamphlet,  227.  Mather's  stand  in  favor  of  Inocu- 
lation, 228.  Persons  put  to  death  as  Witches  in  England  and 
Scotland,  229.  The  humane  Penal  Laws  in  New  England,  230. 
Land  Holding  in  New  England,  231.  The  effect  of  the  Revolu- 
tion of  1688,  233.  Land  Holding  in  Virginia,  234.  Education 
in  Virginia,  235.  Management  of  Civil  Affairs,  236.  Literary 
Culture  in  the  Middle  Colonies  and  Newspapers,  237.  The  inner 
Life  in  New  England  and  Virginia,  239. 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

MISSIONS  AND  SETTLEMENTS  IN  NEW  FRANCE. 

The  Immigrants,  240.  The  Jesuits;  their  zeal  as  Teachers  and  Ex- 
plorers, 241.  The  Chief  Ahasistari,  242  The  Five  Nations,  or 
Iroquois,  243.  Father  Jogues,  244.  The  Abenaki s;  Dreuilettes, 
245.  French  Settlers  at  Oswego— Father  Allouez,  246.  James 
Marquette— The  Mississippi,  247.  La  Salle,  248.  His  Enter- 
prise; his  failure  and  Tragical  End,  250. 

CHAPTER  XX. 

MARAUDING  EXPEDITIONS;   SETTLEMENT  OF  LOUISIANA;  CAPTURE  OF 
LOUISBURG. 

Mohawks  hostile  to  the  French,  252.  Dover  attacked:  Major  Wal- 
dron,  253.  Schenectady  burned — the  inhuman  Frontenac,  254. 
The   Colonists  act  for  themselves — Invasion  of    Canada,  255 


CONTENTS.  liil 

Heroism  of  Hannah  Dustin,  256.  Deerfield  taken;  Eunice  Will- 
iams, 257.  D'Ibberville  plants  a  Colony  on  the  Paseagoula,  259. 
Trading  Posts  on  the  Illinois  and  the  Mississippi,  260.  The 
Choctaws,  261.  Destruction  of  the  Natchez,  262.  Attempts  to 
subdue  the  Chickasaws,  263.  King  George's  War;  Capture  of 
Louisburg,  264.  The  English  Ministry  alarmed,  266.  Jonathan 
Edwards— The  "Great  Revival,"  267.     Princeton  College,  26& 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

FRENCH  AND  INDIAN  WAR. 

The  Valley  of  the  Ohio— French  and  English  Claimants,  269.  Gist, 
the  Pioneer,  270.  George  Washington,  271.  His  Character — 
His  Mission  to  the  French  on  the  Alleghany,  273.  St.  Pierre's 
Letter  unsatisfactory,  275.  Fort  du  Quesne  built— Washington 
sent  to  defend  the  Frontiers,  276.  The  first  Conflict  of  the  War 
—Fort  Necessity,  277.  British  Troops  arrive  in  America,  278. 
Plan  of  Operations— General  Braddock,  279.  The  Army  on  the 
March— Captain  Jack,  280.  The  Battle  of  Monongahela,  282. 
Death  and  Burial  of  Braddock,  284.  Dunbar's  Panic— The 
Effects  of  these  Events,  285. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

FRENCH  AND  INDIAN  WAR — CONTINUED. 

The  French  Acadiens,  288.  Their  Industry  and  good  Morals,  289. 
Their  Mournful  Exile,  290.  Expedition  against  Crown  Point, 
292.  The  English  defeated— Death  of  Colonel  Williams,  293. 
Repulse  of  the  French— Death  of  Dieskau— Williams  College, 
294.  Kittaning  destroved,  295.  Montcalm  Acts  with  Energy, 
297.     Fort  William  Henry  taken,  298.    Canada  Exhausted,  299. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

FRENCH  AND  INDIAN  WAR — CONTINUED. 

William  Pitt,  Prime  Minister,  300.  Lord  Amherst— Plan  of  Opera- 
tions— Louisburg  captured,  301.  English  repulsed — Fort  Fron- 
tenac  captured,  302.  Washington  takes  Possession  of  Fort  du 
Quesne.  303.  Pittsburg,  304.  The  French  abandon  Ticonde- 
roga,  305.  Wolfe  before  Quebec,  306.  The  Battle  on  the  Heights 
of  Abraham,  308.  Deaths  of  Wolfe  and  Montcalm — their  Mem- 
ories, 309.  Quebec  Capitulates — Cherokee  War,  310.  Destruc- 
tion of  their  Crops  and  Villages,  312.  Pontiac,  313.  Desolations 
along  the  Frontiers,  314.  General  Bouquet,  315.  Pontiac'a 
Death,  316. 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  COLONISTS. 

Religious  Influences  among  the  early  Settlers,  317.  Love  of  domestic 
Life,  318.    Laws  enjoining  Morality,  319.     Systems  of  Educa- 


liV  CONTENTS. 

tion;  Common  Schools,  320.     Free  Inquiry  and  Civil  Liberty, 

321.  John  Calvin — The  Anglo-Saxon  Element;  the  Norman, 

322.  The  Southerner;  the  Northerner — Influences  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, 323.     In  New  York — Diversity  of  Ancestry,  324. 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

CAUSES  THAT  LED  TO  THE  REVOLUTION. 

Restrictions  on  Trade  and  Manufactures — Taxes  Imposed  by  Parlia- 
ment, 326.  Writs  of  Assistance,  327.  James  Otis — Samuel 
Adams,  328.  The  "Parsons' "  Case  in  Virginia — Patrick  Henry, 
329.  Colonel  Barre's  Speech — The  Stamp  Act,  331.  Excite- 
ment in  the  Colonies — Resolutions  not  to  use  Stamps,  333.  "Sons 
of  Liberty,"  334.  A  Call  for  a  Congress;  it  Meets,  335.  Self- 
Denial  of  the  Colonists,  336.  Stamp  Act  repealed — Rejoic- 
ings, 337. 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

CAUSES   THAT  LED   TO   THE   REVOLUTION — CONTINUED. 

The  English  Ministry  determine  to  obtain  a  Revenue,  339.  The 
Sloop  Liberty — A  British  Regiment  at  Boston,  341.  Articles 
of  Association  proposed  by  Washington,  342.  Tax  upon  Tea, 
343.  The  Gaspe"  captured,  344.  The  Resolutions  not  to  receive 
the  Tea,  345.  Tea  Thrown  into  Boston  Harbor — Its  Recep- 
tion at  other  Places,  347.  Boston  Port  Bill — Aid  Sent  to 
Boston,  348.  Gage's  Difficulties,  349.  Alexander  Hamilton, 
350.  The  Old  Continental  Congress— The  first  Prayer,  351 .  The 
Papers  issued  by  the  Congress,  353. 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

BEGINNING   OP  THE   REVOLUTION. 

The  Spirit  of  the  People,  355.  They  seize  Guns  and  Ammunition,  356. 
The  Massachusetts  Provincial  Congress ;  its  Measures,  357.  The 
Restraining  Bill,  358.  Conflicts  at  Lexington  and  Concord,  359. 
Volunteers  fly  to  Arms,  and  Beleaguer  Boston — Stark — Putnam, 
361.  Benedict  Arnold — Ethan  Allen,  and  the  Green  Mountain 
Boys,  362.  Capture  of  Ticonderoga,  363.  Lord  Dunmore  in 
Virginia — Henry  and  the  Independent  Companies,  364.  The 
News  from  Lexington  rouses  a  Spirit  of  Resistance,  365.  The 
Second  Continental  Congress,  367.  Its  Measures,  368.  Adopts 
the  Army,  and  appoints  Washington  Commander-in-Chief,  369. 


VOLUME  II. 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

THE   WAR   OF  THE   REVOLUTION. 

Battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  372.     Death  of  Warren — Generals  Charles 
Lee  and  Philip  Schuyler,  377.     State  of  Affairs  in  New  York — 


CONTEKTS.  IV 

Sir  William  Johnson,  378.  Condition  of  the  Anny,  379.  Nathaniel 
Greene — Morgan  and  his  Riflemen,  380.  Wants  of  the  Army, 
381.  Expedition  against  Canada,  382.  Richard  Montgomery — 
Allen's  Rash  Adventure,  383.  Montreal  captured — Arnold's  toil- 
some March  to  Quebec,  384.  That  place  besieged,  385.  Failure 
to  Storm  the  Town — Death  of  Montgomery,  386.  Arnold  in  his 
icy  Fortress,  387. 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 

WAR  OP  THE  REVOLUTION — CONTINUED. 

Meeting  of  Congress— Alarming  evils,  388.  Portland  burned— Efforts 
to  defend  the  Coast,  389.  Parliament  resolves  to  crush  the 
Rebels,  390.  Henry  Knox,  391.  Provincial  Prejudices — Suc- 
cess of  the  Privateers;  British  Theatricals;  Union  Flag,  393. 
Affairs  in  New  York— Rivington's  Gazette,  394.  Governor 
Tryon— General  Lee  in  the  City,  395.  Dunmore's  Measures- 
Norfolk  burned,  396.  Defeat  of  North  Carolina  Tories,  397. 
Cannon  and  powder  obtained,  398.  Dorchester  Heights  fortified 
—Boston  evacuated,  400.  Washington  in  New  York,  402. 
Numerous  Disasters — Retreat  from  Canada,  403.  Horatio  Gates, 
404.  A  British  Fleet  before  Fort  Moultrie,  405.  Stormy  Pros- 
pects, 407. 

CHAPTER  XXX. 

WAR  OP  THE  REVOLUTION — CONTINUED. 

Independence,  Influences  in  favor  of,  409.  The  Tories — Common 
Sense,  410.  The  Declaration ;  its  Reception  by  the  People  and 
Army,  412.  Arrival  of  Admiral  Howe,  413.  His  Overtures, 
414.  The  American  Army — Sectional  Jealousies,  415.  The 
Clintons,  416.  Battle  of  Long  Island,  417.  The  Masterly  Re- 
treat, 420.  Incidents,  421.  Howe  confers  with  a  Committee  of 
Congress,  422.  Nathan  Hale,  423.  The  British  at  Kipp's  Bay, 
424.  New  York  Evacuated,  425.  Conflict  at  White  Plains, 
426.  Loss  of  Fort  Washington,  428.  Retreat  across  New  Jersey, 
429.     Waywardness  of  Lee,  430. 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

WAR  OP  THE  REVOLUTION — CONTINUED. 

Discouragements— Howe's  Proclamation,  431.  Affairs  on  Laka 
Champlain,  432.  Heroism  of  Arnold,  433.  Capture  of  Lee, 
435.  Battle  of  Trenton,  437.  Battle  of  Princeton,  443.  Death 
of  Mercer,  444.  Washington  returns  to  Morristown,  445.  Corn- 
wallis  in  his  lines  at  Brunswick,  445.  Putnam  at  Princeton, 
446.  Ill-treatment  of  American  Prisoners,  447.  Appointment 
of  General  Officers — Medical  Department,  448.  The  Navy,  449. 
Expeditions — Peekskill — Danbury,  449.  Death  of  Wooster — Re- 
taliation at  Sag  Harbor,  451.  Schuyler  and  Gates,  452.  Tho 
National  Flag,  453. 


in  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XXXII 

WAR  OF  THE  REVOLUTION — CONTINUED. 

The  Interest  taken  in  England  and  France,  454.  Privateers  fitted 
out  in  Prance,  455.  Munitions  of  War,  456.  Howe's  Manceuvres, 
457.  Burgoyne  on  his  way  from  Canada,  457.  Ticonderoga 
captured,  458.  St.  Clair's  retreat,  459.  Capture  of  General 
Prescott,  460.  The  Secret  Expedition — Germantown,  461. 
Lafayette,  Pulaski  and  Kosciusko,  462.  Aid  sent  to  Schuyler— 
Howe  lands  at  Elkton,  464.  Battle  of  Brandy  wine,  465.  Phila- 
delphia taken  possession  of,  468.  Battle  of  Germantown,  469. 
Hessians  repulsed  at  Fort  Mercer,  470.  Winter  at^Valley  Forge, 
471. 

CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

WAR  OP  THE  REVOLUTION — CONTINUED. 

Invasion  from  Canada — Appointment  of  General  Gates,  472.  Jenny 
McCrea,  473.  St.  Leger  besieges  Fort  Stanwix,  474.  The  At- 
tempt to  relieve  it,  475.  Battle  of  Bennington,  476.  Change  of 
Prospects,  477.  Battle  of  Behmus's  Heights,  478.  Ticonderoga 
besieged,  479.  Burgoyne  surrenders  his  Army  at  Saratoga,  480. 
The  Prisoners— Capture  of  Forts  on  the  Hudson,  482.  Schuylei; 
483. 

CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

WAR  OF  THE  REVOLUTION — CONTINUED. 

Sufferings  at  Valley  Forge,  484.  "England  disappointed — Concilia- 
tory Measures  of  Parliament,  485.  The  War  presses  hard  upon 
the  American  people,  486.  Difficulties  in  Congress,  487.  The 
"Conway  Cabal,"  488.  Baron  Steuben,  490.  Attempt  to  in- 
crease the  army,  491.  Exchange  of  Lee ;  his  Treason,  492.  Treaty 
with  France— British  Commissioners,  493.  Battle  of  Monmouth, 
494.  Misconduct  of  Lee,  495.  His  death,  496.  Combined  at- 
tack upon  Newport  fails,  497.  Massacre  at  Wyoming — at  Cherry 
Valley,  498.    Invasion  of  Georgia,  500. 

CHAPTER  XXXV. 

WAR  OF  THE  REVOLUTION — CONTINUED. 

Dissensions  in  Congress,  501.  Expedition  against  the  Indians,  502. 
The  War  in  the  South,  503.  Marauding  Expeditions  sent  to  Vir- 
ginia, and  up  the  Hudson — Tryon  ravages  Connecticut,  504. 
Wayne  captures  Stony  Point,  505.  Lee  surprises  the  Garrison 
at  Jersey  City — Combined  assault  upon  Savannah,  506.  Daniel 
Boon,  507.  George  Rogers  Clarke;  Kaskaskia  —  Pioneers  of 
Tennessee;  Nashville,  508.     John  Paul  Jones,  509. 

CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

WAR  OF  THE  REVOLUTION — CONTINUED. 

Hardships  of  the  Soldiers,  510.  British  Success  at  the  South,  511. 
Colonel  Tarleton,  512.     Charleston  capitulates — Defeat  at  Wax 


CONTENTS.  I/" 

haws,  513.  Rev.  James  Caldwell,  514.  Maraud  into  Jersey, 
515.  French  Fleet  at  Newport — The  Partisan  Leaders  in  the 
South,  516.  Gates  in  Command — Disastrous  Battle  of  Camden, 
518.  Death  of  De  Kalb,  519.  Sumter's  Success  and  Defeat,  520. 
The  Treason  of  Arnold — Major  Andre,  521.  Movements  of 
Cornwallis,  523.  Colonel  Ferguson  — The  Battle  of  King's 
Mountain,  524.  Tarleton  repulsed,  526.  Green  iu  command — 
British  triumphant  in  the  South — Affairs  in  Europe?527.  Henry 
Laurens — Dangers  of  England;  her  Energy,  528. 


CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

WAR  OP  THE  REVOLUTION — CONTINUED. 

The  Spirit  of  Revolt  among  the  Soldiers,  530.     Arnold  ravages  the 
Shores  of  Chesapeake,  532.     Battle  of  the  Cowpens,  533.     Mor- 

fan  retreats ;  Cornwallis  pursues,  535.  Green  marches  South— 
tee  scatters  the  Tories,  537.  Battle  of  Guildford  Court-House, 
538.  Conflict  at  Hobkirk's  Hill,  539.  The  Execution  of  Hayne, 
540.  Battle  of  Eutaw  Springs,  541.  Plans  to  Capture  New 
York,  542.  "Wayne's  Daring  at  James  River,  543.  National 
Finances  —  Robert  Morris,  544.  Clinton  deceived  —  Combined 
Armies  beyond  the  Delaware,  545.  French  Fleet  in  the  Chesa- 
peake, 546.  New  London  burned,  547.  The  Attack,  548.  Corn- 
wallis Surrenders,  549.  Thanksgiving,  550.  Number  of  Sol- 
diers furnished,  551. 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

CLOSING  EVENTS  OP  THE  WAR — FORMATION  OP  THE  CONSTITUTION 

British  Efforts  Paralyzed,  552.  The  States  form  independent  Gov- 
ernments — Indian  Wars,  553.  Massacre  of  the  Christian  Dela- 
wares — Battle  of  the  Blue  Lick,  554.  Lord  North — Commission- 
ers of  Peace,  555.  Peace  concluded  —  Dissatisfaction  in  the 
American  Army,  556.  The  "Anonymous  Address,"  557.  British 
Prisoners;  the  Tories,  558.  Disbandment  of  the  Army — Wash- 
ington takes  leave  of  his  Officers,  559.  Resigns  his  Commission, 
560.  Shay's  Rebellion,  562.  Interests  of  the  States  clash,  563. 
The  Constitutional  Convention,  564.  The  Constitution — its  Rati- 
fication, 565.  The  Territory  North-west  of  the  Ohio,  566.  Ec- 
clesiastical Organizations,  567.    Fathers  of  the  Republic,  570. 

CHAPTER  XXXIX. 

WASHINGTON'S  ADMINISTRATION. 

Reception  and  Inauguration  of  the  President,  572.  An  Era  in  human 
Progress,  573.  The  Departments  of  State  organized,  574.  Hamil- 
ton's Financial  Report,  575.  Congress  Assumes  the  Debts  of  the 
Nation — National  Bank,  576.  Commercial  Enterprise — Manu- 
facturers, 577.  Indian  War,  578.  St.  Clair  defeated,  579. 
Wayne  defeats  the  Indians,  580.  Political  Parties — Jefferson, 
581.     The  French  Revolution,  582.     Genet  arrives  as  French 


lvni  CONTENTS. 

Minister — Neutrality  proclaimed  by  the  President — Democratic 
Societies,  583.  The  Partisans  of  France — Recall  of  Genet,  584. 
The  first  Settlers  of  Western  Pennsylvania,  585.  The  Whiskey 
Insurrection,  586.  Special  Mission  to  Great  Britain,  587.  A 
Treaty  concluded,  588.  Other  Treaties,  589.  Washington's 
Farewell  Address,  590. 


CHAPTER  XL. 

JOHN   ADAMS'S    ADMINISTRATION. 

Serious  Aspect  of  Relations  with  France,  591.  Commissioners  of 
Peace,  592.  The  French  Cruisers,  593.  The  Alien  Act— War 
impending,  594.  Washington  Commander-in-Chief — Capture  of 
the  Frigate  L'Insurgente,  595.  Peace  concluded — Death  of 
Washington,  596.  Eulogiums  on  his  Character,  597.  The  City 
of  Washington  becomes  the  Seat  of  Government,  598. 


CHAPTER  XLI. 

jefferson's  administration. 

The  President's  Inaugural,  559.  Purchase  of  Louisiana,  600.  Pi- 
rates in  the  Mediterranean,  601  Burning  of  the  Philadelphia, 
602.  Tripoli  Bombarded,  603.  Death  of  Hamilton,  604.  Aaron 
Burr,  605.  Opposition  to  the  Navy — Gunboats,  606.  The  Rights 
of  Neutrals,  607.  Impressment  of  American  Seamen,  608. 
Treaty  with  England  rejected — Affair  of  the  Chesapeake,  610. 
The  Embargo;  its  effect,  612.     The  Embargo  repealed,  614. 

CHAPTER  XLII. 

madison's  administration. 

Condition  of  the  Country — Erskine's  Negotiations,  615.  Depreda- 
tions upon  American  Commerce — The  Rambouillet  Decree,  617. 
Affair  of  the  Little  Belt,  618.  Indian  Troubles — Tecumseh  and 
the  Prophet,  619.  Battle  of  Tippecanoe,  621.  The  Twelfth 
Congress — Henry  Clay — John  C.  Calhoun,  622.  Foreign  Rela- 
tions, 623.  Debates  in  Congress — John  Randolph,  624.  An- 
other Embargo,  627.  War  declared  against  Great  Britain,  628. 
West  Point,  629.  Riots  at  Baltimore,  630.  Operations  in  the 
Northwest,  631.  Surrender  of  Hull,  632.  Impressment  of 
American  Seamen,  632.  American  Ships  in  English  Ports,  633. 
Failures  to  Invade  Canada,  634.     Missionary  Societies,  636. 


CHAPTER  XLIII. 

i 

madison's  administration — continued. 

Vessels  of  the  Navy,  637.     The  chase  of  the  Constitution — Capture 
of  the  Alert,  638.     The  Guerriere— Incidents,  639.     The  Mace- 


CONTENTS.  lix 

donian— The  Frolic— The  Java,  640.  The  effects  of  these  Naval 
Conflicts  in  the  United  States  and  England,  641.  Plan  of  Oper- 
ations— Harrison  advances  on  Detroit,  643.  General  Winchester 
a  Prisoner;  Indian  Barbarities — The  Kentuckians  fall  into  an 
Ambuscade,  644.  Repulse  at  Fort  Stephenson — The  loss  of  the 
Chesapeake,  645.  Perry's  Victory,  646.  Battle  of  the  Thames 
— Andrew  Jackson,  647.  Leads  an  Expedition;  its  Termination, 
649.  \ork  Captured;  Death  of  General  Pike,  650.  Failures, 
651.  Newark  burned,  the  severe  Retaliation,  652.  Ravages  on 
Shores  of  the  Chesapeake — Indian  War  in  the  South,  653.  Jack- 
son and  others  in  the  Field — Battle  of  the  Great  Horse  Shoe, 
654.  Captain  Porter's  Cruise,  655.  Formation  of  the  Bible 
Society,  656. 

CHAPTER  XLIV. 

MADISON'S  ADMINISTRATION— CONTINUED. 

The  Thirteenth  Congress ;  its  Members,  Daniel  Webster,  65/.  Mani- 
festo of  the  British  Government,  658.  Embarrassments — Com- 
missioners of  Peace,  659.  Jacob  Brown— Winfleld  Scott- 
Wilkinson  unsuccessful,  661.  Battle  of  Lundy's  Lane,  662. 
Battle  on  Lake  Champlain,  665.  The  British  on  the  Shores  of 
the  Chesapeake,  667.  Bladensburg,  669.  Capture  of  Washing- 
ton— Public  Buildings  burned,  670.  Defense  of  Fort  McHenry 
— Death  of  General  Ross,  671.  Bombardment  of  Stonington — 
Distress  in  New  England,  672.  Debates  in  Congress,  673.  Hart- 
ford Convention,  674. 

CHAPTER  XLV. 

MADISON'S  ADMINISTRATION — CONTINUED. 

Jackson  enters  Pensacola,  677.  New  Orleans  defenseless — The  Brit- 
ish land,  678.  Jackson's  Measures  of  Defense,  679.  Battle  of 
New  Orleans,  680.  The  Distress  of  the  Country— The  Relief, 
682.  Treaty  of  Peace,  683.  Frigate  President  captured,  684. 
War  with  Algiers,  685.  Treaty  with  the  Indians— National 
Bank— State  of  Indiana,  686.  John  Fitch— Robert  Fulton- 
First  Steamboat,  687. 

CHAPTER  XLVI. 

monroe's  administration. 

A  Return  to  the  earlier  Policy  of  the  Government,  688.  The  Presi- 
dent's Tour  in  the  Eastern  States — The  Colonization  Society, 
689.  Revolutions  in  the  Spanish  Colonies — Indian  War,  690. 
General  Jackson  in  the  Field — Purchase  of  Florida,  691.  The 
Missouri  Compromise,  692.  The  Monroe  Doctrine — Financial 
Distress  696.     Increase  of  Tariff— Visit  of  Lafayette,  697. 

CHAPTER  XL VII. 

JOHN  QUTNCT  ADAMS'S  ADMINISTRATION. 

Manufactures  and  Internal  Improvements,  699.  Indian  Lands  in 
Georgia,  700.    Death  of  the  ex-Presidents  Thomas  Jefferson  and 


IX  CONTENTS. 

John  Adams,  701.     Free  Masonry— Protection  to  American  In- 
dustry, 702.     Debates  in  Congress— Presidential  Contest,  704. 

CHAPTER  XL VIII. 

JACKSON'S  ADMINISTRATION. 

Appointments  to  Office,  705.  Removal  of  the  Indians  from  Georgia 
706.  Bank  Bill  Vetoed— Nullification ;  the  Causes  of,  707.  Ex- 
treme State  Rights,  708.  Influence  of  Jefferson's  Theories  709 
Resolutions  of  '98,  711.  Efforts  to  Secure  pure  Morals^  712 
Ootton  Manufacture;  its  Progress,  713.  Far-reaching  Policy 
715.  A  Protective  Tariff,  Constitutional,  716.  The  Twofold 
Object,  717.  Slaves  in  Mills— Price  of  Cotton  Cloth,  718.  The 
Motives;  Views  on  Labor  and  Capital,  719.  The  Production  of 
Wool,  720.  The  Equalizing  Measure,  721.  Hayne  and  Webster's 
Debate,  722.  The  President's  Proclamation,  724.  The  Compro- 
mise Bill;  its  final  Passage,  725.  Removal  of  the  Deposits,  726. 
Effect  upon  the  Country— Indian  Wars,  727.  Osceola— Death 
of  Judge  Marshall,  728.  Indemnity  for  French  Spoliations,  729. 
Influence  of  General  Jackson,  730. 

CHAPTER  XLIX. 

VAN  btjren's  administration. 

Apparent  Prosperity,  731.  The  Specie  Circular— Distribution  of  the 
Surplus  Funds— Speculation,  732.  The  Sub-Treasury,  733. 
State  Indebtedness,  734. 

CHAPTER  L. 

HARRI80N  AND  TYLER'S  ADMINISTRATION. 

The  Inauguration,  735.  Death  of  Harrison;  Tyler  President,  736. 
Bankrupt  Law — The  Bank  Charters ;  their  Vetoes,  737.  Propo- 
sition to  treat  with  Great  Britain — Insurrection  in  Canada — The 
Caroline,  738.  Trial  of  McLeod,  739.  Boundary  Disputes  in 
Maine — Treaty  of  Washington,  740.  Questions  of  Visit  and 
Impressment,  741.  Exploring  Expedition,  742.  Texas  Coloni- 
zation ;  Struggles,  743.  Siege  of  the  Alamo,  744.  Davy  Crockett 
— Goliad,  Siege  of — Massacre  of  Prisoners,  745.  Battle  of  San 
Jacinto,  746.  Houston  President — Question  of  Annexation  in 
Congress,  747.  Texas  Annexed — Disturbances  in  Rhode  Island, 
749.    Iowa  and  Florida  become  States — Cheap  Postage,  750. 

CHAPTER  LI. 

POLK'S  ADMINISTRATION. 

Difficulties  with  Mexico,  752.  General  Taylor  at  Corpus  Christi, 
753.  Oregon  Territory ;  respective  Claims  to,  754.  Settlement 
of  Boundary,  756.  Taylor  Marches  to  the  Rio  Grande — Thorn- 
ton's* Party  Surprised,  757.  Attack  on  Fort  Brown,  758.  Battle 
of  Palo  Alto,  759.  Battle  of  Resaca  de  la  Palma,  760.  Mata- 
moras  occupied — Measures  of  Congress,  762.  The  Volunteers 
—Plan  of  Operations — Mexico  declares  War,  763.  Capture  of 
Monterey,  765. 


CONTENTS.  l*i 

CHAPTER  LII. 

polk's  administration — continued. 

l"fie  President  hopes  for  Peace — Santa  Anna,  768.  Hostilities  to  be 
renewed,  770.  Troops  withdrawn  from  General  Taylor — Volun- 
teers arrive  at  Monterey,  771.  Santa  Anna's  Plans  and  Prepara- 
tions, 772.  Taylor  advances  to  Agua  Nueva,  773.  Battle  of 
Buena  Vista,  774.    The  Mexican  Chiefs  Urrea  and  Romero,  788. 

CHAPTER  LIII. 

POLK'S   ADMINISTRATION — CONTINUED. 

Emigration  to  Oregon,  790.  John  C.  Fremont;  his  explorations,  791. 
Difficulties  with  the  Mexican  Governor,  793.  American  Settlers 
in  alarm,  794.  California  free — Monterey  on  the  Pacific  cap- 
tured, 795.  Commodores  Sloat  and  Stockton — Expedition  of 
Kearney,  796.  Santa  F6  taken;  a  Government  organized,  797. 
Doniphan's  Expedition,  798.  El  Paso  taken,  800.  Chihuahua 
occupied,  801.  An  Insurrection;  its  Suppression,  802.  Trial  of 
Fremont,  803. 

CHAPTER  LIV. 

POLK'S   ADMINISTRATION — CONCLUDED. 

Movement  of  Troops,  804.  Vera  Cruz  invested,  805.  Its  Bombard- 
ment and  Capitulation,  806.  Santa  Anna's  Energy,  807.  Battle 
of  Cerro  Gordo,  808.  General  Scott  at  Puebla — His  Misunder- 
standings with  the  Authorities  at  Washington,  809.  Dissen- 
sions in  Mexico,  812.  Scott's  Manifesto,  813.  Advance  upon 
the  Capital,  814.  Battle  of  Contreras,  815.  Of  Churubusco, 
816.  Attempts  to  obtain  Peace,  818.  Conflict  of  Molino  del 
Rey,  819.  The  Castle  of  Chapultepec  captured,  820.  Santa 
Anna  again  in  the  Field,  822.  Treaty  of  Peace,  823.  Condi- 
tions of  the  Peace — Discovery  of  Gold  in  California,  825. 
Death  of  John  Quincy  Adams,  826.  Wilmot  Proviso,  827. 
The  Presidential  Election— Death  of  Mr.  Polk,  828. 


VOLUME  III. 

CHAPTER  LV. 

TAYLOR  AND   FILLMORE'S  ADMINISTRATION. 

Discussion  on  Slavery — Wilmot  Proviso,  830.  The  Powers  of  the 
Constitution;  their  Application  in  the  Territories,  832.  The 
President's  Message;  its  Recommendations,  834.  Debate  on  the 
Omnibus  Bill,  835.  Death  of  Calhoun — Death  of  President  Tay- 
lor— Fillmore  Inaugurated,  836.  The  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  837. 
The  Mormons ;  their  Origin,  838.  Troubles — Settlement  in  Utah 
— A  Disunion  Convention,  839.  Lopez  invades  Cuba,  840. 
Search  for  Sir  John  Franklin— Dr.  E.  K.  Kane,  841.  Death  of 
Henry  Clay;  of  Daniel  Webster;  the  Tripartite  Treaty,  842. 


lxii  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  LVI. 

PIERCE'S  ADMINISTRATION. 

Purchase  of  the  Mesilla  Valley,  844.  Treaty  with  Japan,  845.  The 
Kansas-Nebraska  Bill;  the  effects  of  the  Measure,  846.  Emi- 
grants to  Kansas,  847.  Struggles  and  Conflicts,  848.  James 
Buchanan,  President,  850.  The  Contest  continues  in  Kansas, 
851.    John  Brown,  852.     Platforms  of  Political  Parties,  855. 

CHAPTER  LVII. 

Buchanan's  administration— continued. 

Traits  of  Character,  North  and  South,.  857.  Comparative  Intel- 
ligence in  the  Free  and  Slave  States,  858.  The  two  Systems — 
Illiteracy  compared,  859.  Influences  of  different,  860.  Benevo- 
lent Operations,  862.  Change  in  the  Slavery  Discussion,  863. 
The  Abolitionists,  864.  Material  Progress,  866.  Compromises, 
867.  Republican  Party,  868.  Democratic  Convention,  869. 
The  Election,  how  received,  870.  Intent  of  Personal  Liberty 
Bills — Union  Men,  871.  Legislatures  and  Conventions,  South, 
872.  Non- coercion;  Border  States ;  Finances,  873.  Buchanan'a 
Message,  874.  Fort  Sumter,  875.  Yulee's  Letter,  877.  Mr. 
Lincoln's  Journey,  878.  Confederate  Constitution;  Fallacies 
879. 

CHAPTER  LVIII. 

LINCOLN'S  ADMINISTRATION. 

The  Inauguration,  880.  Effect  of  the  Inaugural,  881.  Sumter  Bom- 
barded, 883.  The  President's  call  for  Volunteers;  Responses, 
885.  Spirit  of  Loyalty,  886.  Riot  in  Baltimore,  887.  Confed- 
erate Congress  at  Richmond,  888.  Loyalty  in  Tennessee  and 
Missouri,  889.  Advance  into  Virginia;  Death  of  Ellsworth,  890. 
Proclamations;  Instructions  to  United  States  Ministers  abrond, 
891.  English  Neutrality,  892.  Big  Bethel  Skirmish,  893.  West 
Virginia  freed  of  Confederates,  894.  Battle  of  Bull  Run,  895. 
Missouri,  898.  Battle  of  Wilson's  Creek;  Death  of  Lyon,  899. 
Fremont's  Proclamation,  901.  Kentucky's  Legislation,  902. 
Finances  and  the  Army,  903.  Ball's  Bluff  Disaster,  904.  Hat- 
teras  Expedition,  905.  Capture  of  Hilton  Head,  906.  Soldiers 
and  Money;  Mason  and  Slidell,  907.  Battle  of  Belmont,  909. 
Battle  of  Mill  Spring,  910.  Davis's  Special  Message,  911. 
Meeting  of  Congress;  the  Union  Army,  912.  Capture  of  Forts 
Henry  and  Donelson,  913-917. 

CHAPTER  LIX. 

Lincoln's  administration — continued. 

Burnside's  Expedition  to  North  Carolina,  918.  Battle  of  Pea  Ridge, 
919.  Capture  of  New  Madrid  and  Island  No.  10,  921.  Battle  of 
Pittsburg  Landing,  or  Shiloh,  923-925.  Capture  of  New  Orleans, 
926.    Death  of  Admiral  Foote;  Battle  of  River  Ironclads,  930. 


CONTENTS.  lxiii 

Evacuation  of  Corinth,  931.     Plans  of  Movements  on  Richmond, 
932.     The  Merrimac  and  Monitor  Duel,  933.     Contrabands,  936. 

CHAPTER  LX. 

Lincoln's  administration — continued. 

Movement  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  937.  Evacuation  of  Manas. 
sas,  938.  Yorktown,  Siege  of,  939.  Battle  of  Williamsburg,  941 
Sanitary  Commission,  942  Excitement  in  Richmond ;  Conscrip 
tion  Law,  943.  Generals  Banks  and  Jackson  in  the  Valley,  944 
The  Chickahominy ;  Battle  of  Fair  Oaks,  945.  Lee  in  command 
946.  Battle  of  Cold  Harbor,  947.  Change  of  Base,  949.  Battle 
of  Malvern  Hill,  950.  Harrison's  Landing,  952.  Cedar  Moun 
tain,  953.  Second  Battle  of  Bull  Run,  955.  Lee  invades  Mary 
land,  956.  Harper's  Ferry  captured,  957.  Battle  of  Antietam 
958.  Lee  retreats,  960.  McClellan's  slowness;  his  removal,  961 
Burnside  in  command;  Battle  of  Fredericksburg,  962. 

CHAPTER  LXI. 

Lincoln's  administration— continued. 

Invasion  of  Kentucky;  Battle  of  Perry ville,  964.  Battle  of  Iuka; 
Preliminary  Proclamation,  965.  Opposition;  the  Slave's  Hope, 
966.  Battle  of  Murfreesboro,  967.  Confederate  Failures,  968. 
Sherman  on  the  Yazoo,  969.  Capture  of  Fort  Hindman ;  Presi- 
dent's Message,  970.  Finances;  Northern  Industries,  971.  Con- 
federate Finances,  972.  Battle  of  Chancellorville,  973.  Death 
of  "  Stonewall "  Jackson,  974. 


CHAPTER  LXII. 

Lincoln's  administration — continued. 

Lee's  Advance  North,  976.  Crosses  the  Potomac,  977.  Hooker  re- 
signs; Meade  in  command,  978.  Battle  of  Gettysburg,  979-984. 
Lee's  retreat,  985.  Vicksburg;  Victories,  986.  Vicksburg  and 
Port  Hudson  captured,  987.  Naval  Expedition,  988.  The  Draft 
•  and  Riot,  989.  French  Protestant  Address,  990.  Colored  Sol- 
diers—National Banks,  991. 

CHAPTER  LXIII. 

Lincoln's  administration — continued. 

The  March  to  Chattanooga,  992.  The  Battle;  Chickamauga,  993. 
Burnside;  Knoxville,  994.  Battle  above  the  Clouds,  995.  Bragg's 
defeat,  996.  Marauders  in  Missouri,  997.  Red  River  Expedition ; 
Fort  Pillow  Massacre,  998.  Grant ;  Lieutenant- General ;  Position 
of  Affairs,  999.  Sherman  flanks  Johnston;  he  falls  back.  1000. 
Death  of  Bishop  Polk;  Kenesaw  Mountain,  1001.  Hood  in  com- 
mand; Battles,  1002.  Death  of  McPherson;  Railways  broken, 
1003.  ''Atlanta  ours;"  March  to  the  Sea;  The  Christmas  Gift; 
Orders,  1004-1005. 


lxiv  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  LXIV. 

LINCOLN'S  ADMINISTRATION — CONTINUED. 

Grant's  choice  of  Subordinates,  1006.  Battles  in  the  Wilderness, 
1007-1010.  Butler  at  Bermuda  Hundreds,  1009.  Confederate 
repulses;  Movement  to  the  James,  1010.  Early  in  the  Valley, 
1011.  Sheridan  in  command;  his  ride,  1013.  The  Mine;  Capture 
of  Mobile,  1014.  Outrages  in  Missouri;  Wilmington  captured, 
1015.  Hood  on  the  march,  1016.  Battle  of  Nashville;  Hood's 
defeat,  1017.     Union  Men;  Conscript  Soldiers;  Women,  1018. 

CHAPTER  LXV. 

Lincoln's  administration — continued. 

Grant's  design ;  Platforms  of  Parties,  1019.  Second  Inauguration,  1020; 
Disposition  of  Union  Forces,  1021.  Lee's  Plans,  1022.  Battle* 
Five  Forks,  1023.  Lee  surrenders ;  Richmond  on  fire  and  occu- 
pied, 1024.  Jefferson  Davis  captured;  Columbia  burned,  1025. 
Johnston  surrenders,  1026.  The  Assassination,  1026.  Andrew 
Johnson;  Booth  shot — Mr.  Lincoln,  Grant  and  Sherman;  Inter- 
view, 1027.  Last  reviews;  Union  loss  in  the  Rebellion,  1028. 
Blockade  raised ;  Old  Flag  on  Sumter,  1029.  Amnesty  Proclama- 
tion; The  Kearsarge  and  the  Alabama,  1030.  Lord  John  Rus- 
sell's Protest ;  Louis  Napoleon,  1031.  Article  XIII. ;  The  Tele- 
graph, Article  XIV.,  1032.  Reconstruction,  1033-1044.  Ne- 
braska; Impeachment,  1045  Treaty  with  China;  Presidential 
Election,  1046. 

CHAPTER  LXVI. 

grant's  administration. 

Pacific  Railway;  Fifteenth  Amendment,  1047.  Death  of  General 
Lee,  1048.  State  Rights  Influence,  1049.  Alabama  Claims, 
1050-1052.  Fraudulent  Voting,  1053.  The  Ku  Klux,  1055. 
Suspension  of  Habeas  Corpus— Signal  Service,  1056.  Fires; 
Chicago,  Boston,  1057.  Manufactures,  1058.  Railroad  Panic, 
1059.  Bill  for  Resumption— Disturbances  in  Louisiana,  1060. 
Indian  Question,  1061.  State  of  Colorado— Deaths,  1062. 
Census  of  1870;  Election  Law,  1063.  Centennial,  1063-1064. 
Presidential  Election,  1064.  Greeley— Sumner,  1065.  Influences 
binding  the  Union,  1066.  Civil  Service  Reform,  1068.  Political 
Opinions,  1069.  Presidential  Election— Electoral  Commission, 
1070. 

CHAPTER  LXVII. 

hayes's  administration. 

Sketch  of  Life,  1071.  Inaugural— Cabinet,  1072.  Civil  Service- 
Railway  Riot— Coinage  of  Silver,  1073.  Fisheries  Indemnity- 
Resumption  of  Specie  Payments,  1074.  Progress— Platforms 
of  Parties,  1075.  Tenth  Census— Ratio  of  "Representatives, 
1076.     Good  Influence,  1077. 


COHTEtfTS.  kv 

CHAPTER  LXVHI. 

garfield's  administration. 

Sketch  of  Life,  1078.  Senate  of  the  State  of  Ohio,  1079.  In  Com- 
mand in  Eastern  Kentucky,  1080.  In  Congress,  1081.  Inau- 
gurated President,  1082.  Success  of  the  Finances,  1083.  The 
Assassination  of  Garfield — Sympathy  of  the  Civilized  World, 
1084.  Removal  to  Long  Branch,  1085.  Death;  Funeral,  1086. 
Incident,  1087.  Training  of  Citizens,  1088.  The  Assassinations 
and  their  cause,  1090.  The  Spoils  System,  1091.  Centers  of 
Population  and-  Territory,  1092. 

CHAPTER  LXIX. 

Arthur's  administration. 

Sketch  of  Life— The  two  Law  Cases,  1093.  The  second  Oath  of 
Office— The  Inaugural,  1095.  Destructive  Fires,  1095.  York- 
town  Celebration,  1096.  Meeting  of  Congress  and  the  Message, 
1097.  Progress  of  the  Country,  1098.  Arctic  Explorations, 
1098-1100.  House  of  Representatives;  Number  of  members 
fixed,  1102.  Tariff  Commission,  1103.  Tariff  of  1883,  1103. 
National  Banks,  1104.  Civil  Service  Examinations,  1105. 
Labor  Bureau,  1105.  National  Capital,  1106.  Washington 
Monument,  1107.  Morrison  Tariff,  1108.  Presidential  Can- 
vass and  Platforms,  1109.  Votes  Cast,  1110.  Expositions  at 
Atlanta  and  New  Orleans,  1111. 

CHAPTER  LXXI. 

CLEVELAND'S   ADMINISTRATION. 

Sketch  of  Life,  1112.  Inaugural  and  Cabinet,  1114.  Death  of 
General  Grant,  1117.  Funeral  Services  in  the  U.  S.,  1117;  in 
Westminster  Abbey,  1118.  Death  of  General  McClellan,  1119. 
Auditing  the  Books  of  the  Treasury,  1120.  The  Financial 
Policy,  1121.  Revision  of  Tariff  Attempted,  1122.  Labor; 
Arbitration,  1124.  Presidential  Succession,  1125.  Counting 
the  Electoral  Votes,  1126.  Interstate  Commerce  Act,  1127. 
Presidential  Candidates  and  Platforms,  1128.  Department  of 
Agriculture,  1128.    Admission  of  States,  1128. 

CHAPTER  LXXII. 

HARRISON'S   ADMINISTRATION. 

Sketch  of  Life,  1129.  Inauguration,  1132.  Inaugural  Address, 
1132.  The  Cabinet  1133.  The  Last  Centennial  Celebration, 
1134.  Ceremonies  at  Washington's  Inauguration,  1135.  The 
Imitations,  1136.  The  Coming  from  Elizabethport,  1136.  The 
School  Girls, — Religious  Services,  1136.  Meeting  at  the  Statue 
in  Wall  Street,  1137.  Military  Parade,  1137.  Civic  Parade, 
1188. 


lxVJ  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  LXXIII. 

THE   NATION  IN   1789   AND   IN   1889. 

Territory  of  the  Union  in  1789  and  in  1889,  1139.  Comparison 
with  Europe,  1140.  Diversified  Climate,  1141.  Essential 
Productions,  1142.  Means  of  Transportation,  1142.  Rates  of 
Railway  Fares,  1143.  Crude  Manufactures  and  Trade,  1144. 
National  Debts; — Means  of  Paying,  1145.  Condition  of  the 
Churches  in  1789,  1145.  Christian  Zeal  and  Benevolent  Insti- 
tutions, 1146.  Little  Harmony  among  the  Denominations,  in 
1789,  1146.  Era  of  Theological  Discussions,  1147.  Anti- 
Slavery  Agitation,  1147.  Reverence  for  Christianity,  1148. 
Conclusion, — Progress, — Agriculture,  1149.  Inventions,  1150. 
Immigrants,  1150.  Results  of  the  Homestead  Law,  1151. 
Young  Men's  Christian  Associations,  1152.  Intelligent  Voting 
Assured,  1153.  The  Press  and  Libraries,  1154.  Authors,  1155. 
Temperance,  1155.  Individual  Responsibility,  1156.  The  Eng- 
lish Language,  1157. 

CHAPTER  LXXIV. 

HARRISON'S  ADMINISTRATION  RESUMED. 

American  characteristics ;  retarding  influences,  1158.  Two  Gov- 
ernments to  Support,  1159.  Taxation  direct  and  indirect, 
1159-1160.  Tariff  Revision— the  McKinley  Bill,  1160.  Rail- 
road lands  reclaimed,  1160.  Idaho  and  Wyoming  admitted 
— The  Standard  Dollar — Louisiana  Lottery,  1161.  Financial 
legislation — the  Silver  Purchase  Law,  1162.  Labor  legislation 
— Columbian  Exposition— Commerce,  1163.  Presidential  Elec- 
tions— Grover  Cleveland  elected,  1164. 

CHAPTER  LXXV. 

Cleveland's  second  administration. 

The  Cabinet,  1165.  Political  Platforms  and  the  Manufacturers, 
1166.  Extra  Session  of  Congress  and  President's  Message,  1167. 
Repeal  of  Silver  Purchase  Law — Wilson-Gorman  Tariff,  1168. 
Effects  of  New  Legislation— Action  of  Importers,  1169.  Popular 
Reversal  of  Opinion  in  Elections  of  1894,  1170.  Reciprocity 
Treaties,  1171.  Political  Conventions  in  1896,  1174.  Various 
Parties,  1175.    McKinley  elected  President,  1176. 

CHAPTER  LXXVI. 

Mckinley's  first  administration. 

Sketch  of  McKinley,  1177.  Inauguration  and  Cabinet,  1178.  Extra 
Session  of  Congress— the  Dingley  Tariff  Bill,  1179.  Cuban 
affairs-r Revolution— Spanish  oppressions — Blowing  up  of  the 
Maine,  1179-1181.  Strained  relations  between  Spain  and  the 
United  States,  1182.     War  preparations,  1183.     War— Troops 


CONTENTS. 


lxvii 


called  for,  1184.  Dewey  destroys  Spanish  fleet  in  Manila 
harbor,  1185.  Sampson  blockades  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico,  1185. 
Spanish  fleet  at  Santiago — Hobson  and  the  Merrimac — Landing 
of  U.  S.  Marines,  1186.  Land  Campaign  under  Shafter,  1187. 
The  Rough  Riders,  1187.  San  Juan  and  El  Caney,  1188. 
Spanish  fleet  crushed — Escaping  from  Santiago,  1189.  Santiago 
Surrenders — Porto  Rico  invaded,  1191. 


CHAPTER  LXXVII. 

Mckinley's  first  administration — continued. 

Affairs  in  the  Philippines — Aguinaldo,  1193.  Merritt,  Greene  and 
Dewey  capture  Manila  City,  1194.  Peace  Negotiations,  1195. 
Final  Treaty,  1196.  Pacific  R.  R.  Bonds,  1197.  The  Gold 
Standard  Established  by  Law — Porto  Rican  Tariff — Hawaii  and 
Alaska,  1198.  Political  Nominations  and  Platforms,  1199-1201. 
Successes  of  McKinley's  Administration,  1201.  Re-election  of 
President  McKinley,  1202. 

CHAPTER  LXXVIII. 

mckinley's  second  term. 

Inauguration  of  McKinley  and  Roosevelt,  1203.  The  President's 
Tour  to  the  Pacific  Coast,  1204.  At  the  Pan-American  Exposi- 
tion, 1204.  His  Farewell  Address,  1205.  His  Death,  1210. 
Sketch  of  Theodore  Roosevelt,  1213.  Continuation  of  the 
Philippine  War,  1215.  The  War  in  China,  1221.  Independ- 
ence for  Cuba,  1228.  The  Isthmian  Canal,  1231.  The  Alaska 
Boundary,  1234.  Great  Coal  Strike,  1235.  Our  Island  Posses- 
sions, 1237.  American  Inventions,  1238.  President  Roose- 
velt's First  Message,  1242.  Naval  and  Military  Power,  1244. 
Gifts  of  Benevolence,  1246. 

CHAPTER  LXXIX. 

roosevelt's  administration. 

Important  Treaties,  1249.  Inheritance  of  Property,  1249.  Inter- 
national Arbitration,  1250.  Articles  of  War,  1252.  Alaska 
Boundary,  1256.  Extradition,  1259.  Panama  Ship  Canal, 
1259. 

CHAPTER  LXXX. 

roosevelt's  administration — continued. 

The  Presidential  Election  of  1904,  1263.  Chief  Declarations  of  the 
Platforms,  1264.  The  Result  Compared,  1268.  Principal 
Topics  of  the  Annual  Message,  1269.  Labor  and  Capital,  1269. 
Trusts,  1272.  Immigration  and  Citizenship,  1275.  The  Agri- 
cultural Department  and  Its  Work,  1278.  Establishment  of 
the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  1280.  Growth  of 
Cities,  1281.  Reciprocity  with  Cuba,  1281.  The  Pacific 
Cable,  1282.    The  Mormon  Question,  1282. 


A  HISTORY 


AMERICAN    PEOPLE. 


LIEF   ERICSSON, 

AND     OTHER     NORSE     ADVENTURERS. 

About  five  hundred  years  before  Columbus  landed  on 
Guanahani,  one  of  the  Bahama  Islands,  Lief  Ericsson,  a 
Scandinavian,  sailed  from  Brattahlid,  now  New  Herrn- 
hut,  in  Greenland,  in  a  due  south  direction,  and  after 
passing  over  sixteen  degrees  of  latitude,  or  about  1,100 
statute  miles,  sighted  Newfoundland,  and  thence  sailing 
southwest  along  the  coast  reached  Cape  Cod.  After- 
ward other  adventurous  Northmen  made  voyages  occa- 
sionally along  the  same  coasts,  from  the  tenth  to  the 
twelfth  centuries.  These  explorers  landed  at  several 
places ;  and  records  show  that  they  attempted  to  found 
a  colony  in  a  region  which  they  named  Yinland. 

The  place  selected  for  the  settlement  is  supposed  to 
have  been  somewhere  within  the  boundaries  of  the  pres- 
ent States  of  Massachusetts  and  Rhode  Island,  but  every 
trace  of  the  colony  disappeared  long  before  the  advent  of 
the  English  upon  the  same  territory. 

Meanwhile,  an  Icelandic  collection  of  legends  or  sagas, 
which  treat  of  these  early  discoveries,  shows  that  ex- 
plorations were  made  even  as  far  south  as  Florida,  in 
the  vicinity  of  where  St.  Augustine  now  stands. 

9 


10  HISTORY   OF  THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE. 

No  marked  influence  was  exerted  by  these  discoveries 
and  partial  explorations,  however,  unless  it  may  have 
been,  as  generally  supposed,  that  an  account  of  the  voy- 
ages of  Ericsson  and  others  reached  Columbus  and  stimu- 
lated him  in  his  efforts  to  obtain  the  means  of  making 
an  expedition  of  discovery  toward  the  "West. 


CHAPTEK  I. 

COLUMBUS. 

His  Discoveries,  Misfortunes,  and  Death.— Amerigo  Vespucci,  and 
the  name  America. 

Foe  nearly  fifteen  hundred  years  after  the  birth  of  our  chap. 

Saviour,  the  great  Western  Continent  was  unknown  to ■ — 

the  inhabitants  of  the  Old  World.  tm 

The  people  of  Europe  had  looked  upon  the  Atlantic 
Ocean  as  a  boundless  expanse  of  water,  surrounding  the 
land  and  stretching  far  away  they  knew  not  whither. 
This  vast  unknown,  their  imaginations  had  peopled  with 
all  sorts  of  terrible  monsters,  ever  ready  to  devour  those 
who  should  rashly  venture  among  them.  But  the  cloud 
of  mystery  and  superstition  that  hung  over  this  world  of 
waters  was  now  to  be  dispelled — a  spirit  of  discovery  was 
awakened  in  Europe. 

The  Azores  and  Madeira  Isles  were  already  known. 
Mariners,  driven  out  by  adverse  winds,  had  discovered 
them.  Tradition  told  of  islands  still  further  west,  but  as 
yet  no  one  had  gone  in  search  of  them.  Even  though 
the  bold  Norsemen  did  find  and  touch  upon  Western 
shores,  the  knowledge  of  them  was  neither  published 
nor  utilized.  The  attention  of  the  people  of  maritime 
Europe  was  turned  in  the  opposite  direction  ;  they  wished 
to  find  a  passage  by  water  to  the  eastern  coasts  of  Asia. 
The  stories  told  by  those  early  travellers,  Sir  John  Man- 

11 


12  HISTORY    OF   THE   AMERICAN    PEOPLE. 

chap.  Seville  and  Marco  Polo,  had  fired  their  imaginations ; 


they  believed  that  among  those  distant  regions  of  which 
1492*  they  wrote,  so  abundant  in  precious  stones,  diamonds, 
and  gold,  was  the  veritable  land  of  Ophir  itself.  Their 
intense  desire  to  obtain  the  treasures  of  India  led  to  a 
result  most  important  in  the  world's  history — a  result 
little  anticipated,  but  which  was  to  have  a  never-ending 
influence  upon  the  destinies  of  the  human  family — the 
discovery  of  America. 

There  appeared  at  this  time  a  remarkable  man — 
Christopher  Columbus.  He  was  a  native  of  Genoa,  one 
of  the  great  commercial  cities  of  Italy.  He  had  been 
from  his  childhood  familiar  with  the  sea,  and  had  vis- 
ited the  most  distant  portions  of  the  world  then  known. 
His  time  and  talents  were  devoted  to  the  study  of  navi- 
gation, geography,  and  astronomy.  He  read  also  many 
books  of  travel,  and  it  is  now  thought  that  he  had  seen 
in  Iceland  or  elsewhere  the  accounts  of  land  visited  in 
the  west  by  the  Norsemen,  as  mentioned  in  our  Intro- 
duction. He  began  to  astonish  his  countrymen  with 
strange  notions  about  the  world.  He  boldly  asserted 
that  it  was  round,  instead  of  ■  flat ;  that  it  went  around 
the  sun  instead  of  the  sun  going  around  it ;  and  more- 
over, that  day  and  night  were  caused  by  its  revolution 
on  its  axis.  These  doctrines  the  priests  denounced  as 
contrary  to  those  of  the  church.  When  he  ventured  to 
assert  that  by  sailing  west,  he  could  reach  the  East  In- 
dies, they  questioned  not  only  the  soundness  of  his 
theory,  but  that  of  his  intellect.  For  years  he  labored 
to  obtain  the  means  to  explore  the  great  western  ocean, 
to  prove  that  it  was  the  pathway  to  the  coveted  treasures 
of  the  East. 

He  applied  first  to  John  the  Second,  king  of  Portugal, 
to  aid 'him  in  his  enterprise,  but  without  success ;  he  then 
applied  to  Henry  the  Seventh,  king  of  England,  with  a 
similar  result.    After  years  of  delay  and  disappointment, 


COLUMBUS  SAILS  FROM  PALO&  13 

his  project  having  been  twice  rejected  by  the  Spanish   u^P 
court,  and  he  himself  branded  as  a  wild  enthusiast,  he  sue-  , 

ceeded  in  enlisting  in  its  favor  the  benevolent  Isabella,  1492. 
Queen  of  Spain.  She  offered  to  pledge  her  private  jewels 
to  obtain  means  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  expedition. 
Thus  the  blessings,  which  have  accrued  to  the  world  from 
the  discovery  of  America,  may  be  traced  to  the  beneficence 
of  one  of  the  noblest  of  women. 

After  numerous  delays  and  many  disappointments, 
on  Friday,  the  3d  of  August,  1492,  Columbus  sailed  from 
the  little  port  of  Palos,  in  Spain. 

He  confidently  launched  forth  upon  the  unknown  ocean. 
His  three  little  vessels  were  mere  sail-boats  compared 
with  the  magnificent  ships  that  now  pass  over  the  same 
waters.  He  sailed  on  and  on,  day  after  day,  and  at  length 
came  within  the  influence  of  the  trade  winds,  which  with-  . 
out  intermission  urged  his  vessels  toward  the  west.  The 
sailors  began  to  fear— if  these  winds  continued,  they  never 
could  return.  They  noticed  the  variation  of  the  compass  ; 
it  no  longer  pointed  to  the  pole, — was  this  mysterious,  but 
hitherto  trusty  friend,  about  to  fail  them  ? 

Ten  weeks  had  already  elapsed,  and  the  winds  were  still 
bearing  them  farther  and  farther  from  their  homes.  It  is 
true,  there  were  many  indications  that  land  was  near ;  land 
birds  were  seen  ;  land  weeds,  a  bush  with  fresh  berries 
upon  it,  and  a  cane  curiously  carved,  were  found  floating  in 
fehe  water.  Again  and  again,  from  those  on  the  watch, 
was  heard  the  cry  of  land,  but  as  often  the  morning  sun 
dispelled  the  illusion ;  they  had  been  deceived  by  the 
evening  clouds  that  fringed  the  western  horizon.  Now, 
the  sailors  terror-stricken,  became  mutinous,  and  clamored 
to  return.  They  thought  they  had  sinned  in  venturing  so 
far  from  land,  and  as  a  punishment  were  thus  lured  on  to 
perish  amid  the  dangers  with  which  their  imaginations  had 
filled  the  waste  of  waters. 

Columbus  alone  was  calm  and  hopeful ;  in  the  midst 


14  HISTORY   OF  THE   AMERICAN"   PEOPLE. 

chap.   0f  au  these  difficulties,  he  preserved  the  courage  and  noble 

self-control  that  so  dignifies  his  character.     His  confidence 

1492.  in  the  success  of  his  enterprise,  was  not  the  idle  dream  of 
a  mere  enthusiast ;  it  was  founded  in  reason,  it  was  based 
on  science.  His  courage  was  the  courage  of  one,  who,  in 
the  earnest  pursuit  of  truth,  loses  sight  of  every  personal 
consideration.  He  asked  only  for  a  little  more  time,  that 
he  might  prove  to  others  the  truth  of  what  he  himself  so 
firmly  believed.  When  lo  !  the  following  night  the  land 
breeze,  fragrant  with  the  perfume  of  flowers,  greeted  them; 
never  was  it  more  grateful  to  the  worn  and  weary  sailor. 
The  ships  were  ordered  to  lie  to,  lest  they  should  run  upon 
rocks.  Suddenly  the  ever  watchful  eye  of  Columbus  saw 
a  light,  a  moving  light !  The  alternations  of  hope  and 
fear,  the  visions  of  fame  and  greatness,  or  the  higher  aspi- 
rations that  may  have  filled  his  soul  on  that  eventful  night, 
are  more  easily  imagined  than  described. 
Frid.,  The  next  morning,  they  saw  lying  before  them  in  all 

22  its  luxuriant  beauty  an  island,  called  by  the  natives  Guan- 
ahani,  but  renamed  by  Columbus,  San  Salvador,  or  Holy 
Saviour. 

With  a  portion  of  his  crew  he  landed.  Falling  on 
their  knees,  they  offered  thanksgivings  to  God,  who  had 
crowned  their  labors  with  success. 

Columbus  raised  a  banner,  and  planted  a  cross,  and 
thus  took  formal  possession  of  the  land  in  the  names  of  his 
sovereigns,  Ferdinand  and  Isabella.  The  awe- stricken 
natives  watched  the  ceremony  from  amid  the  groves  ;  they 
thought  the  white  strangers  were  the  children  of  the  sun, 
their  great  deity.  Alas  !  the  cross  did  not  prove  to  them 
the  emblem  of  peace  and  good-will  ! 

Columbus  explored  this  island — one  of  the  Bahama 

group* — and  discovered   others,  now  known  as  the  West 

Indies.     Thus  he  spent  three  months  ;  then  taking  with 

him  seven  of  the  natives,  he  sailed  for  home.     On  the  1 5th 

I4M.    of  March  he  arrived  at  Palos.    From  that  port  to  the  court 


jXpdfEKENs/ 


HIS   THIRD    ¥QIAGK.  15 

at  Barcelona,  his  progress  was  a  triumphal  procession.     He   chap. 

was   graciously  received  by  the   King  and  Queen,  who  

appointed  him  Viceroy  or  Governor  of  all  the  countries  he  1193 
had  or  should  discover.  They  conferred  upon  him  and  his 
family  titles  of  nobility,  and  permission  to  use  a  coat  of 
arms.  The  day  he  made  his  discovery,  was  the  day  of  his 
triumph  ;  this  day  was  the  recognition  of  it  by  his  patrons 
and  by  the  world.  His  past  life  had  been  one  of  unremit- 
ting toil  and  hope  deferred ;  but  in  the  future  were 
bright  prospects  for  himself  and  his  family.  But  his 
title,  the  object  of  his  honorable  ambition,  proved  the 
occasion  of  all  his  after  sorrows.  The  honors  so  justly 
conferred  upon  him,  excited  the  jealousy  of  the  Spanish 
nobility. 

From  this  time  his  life  was  one  continued  contest  with 
his  enemies.  He  made  more  voyages,  and  more  discoveries 
in  the  West  Indies.  On  his  third  voyage  he  saw  the  main-  149S 
land  at  the  mouth  of  the  Orinoco.  It  seems  never  to  have 
occurred  to  him,  that  a  river  so  large  must  necessarily 
drain  a  vast  territory.  He  supposed  the  lands  he  had  dis- 
covered were  islands  belonging  to  Cathay,  or  Farthei 
India  ;  from  this  circumstance  the  natives  of  the  New 
World  were  called  Indians.  It  is  more  than  probable 
Columbus  died  without  knowing  that  he  had  found  a 
great  continent. 

After  a  few  years  his  enemies  so  far  prevailed,  that  on 
a  false  accusation  he  was  sent  home  in  chains  from  the 
island  of  Hispaniola.  Isabella,  indignant  at  the  treat- 
ment he  had  received,  ordered  them  to  be  taken  off,  and 
all  his  rights  and  honors  restored.  Ferdinand  promised  to 
aid  her  in  rendering  him  justice,  and  in  punishing  his  ene- 
mies ;  but,  double-dealing  and  ungenerous,  he  did  neither. 
To  the  misfortunes  of  Columbus  was  added  the  death  of 
Isabella,  his  kind  and  generous  patroness.  And  now  he 
was  openly  maligned  and  persecuted.  Their  work  was  soon 
done  ;  in  a  short  time  he  died,  worn  out  by  disease  and 


16  HISTOEY   OF  THE   AMEBIC  AN  PEOPLE. 

chap,    disappointment.     His  last  words  were  :  "  Into  thy  hands, 

0  Lord,  I  commend  my  spirit." 

1506.  His  body  was  deposited  in  a  convent  in  Spain.     Fer- 

dinand, it  is  said,  ordered  a  monument  to  his  memory. 
.   The  justice  he  had  denied  him  in  life  he  was  willing  to 
inscribe  upon  his  tomb, — it  was  to  bear  the  inscription  : 
"  Columbus  has  given  a  world  to  Castile  and  Leon." 

•  The  body  of  Columbus  was  afterwards  conveyed  to 
Hispaniola.  After  a  lapse  of  almost  three  hundred  years 
that  island  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  French.  Gene- 
rations had  come  and  gone,  but  the  Spanish  nation  re- 
membered that  Columbus  had  "  given  a  world  to  Castile 
and  Leon  ; "  and  they  wished  to  retain  his  remains  within 
their  own  territories.  They  disinterred  them,  and  with 
imposing  ceremonies  transferred  them  to  Havana  in  the 

I79k    island  of  Cuba,  where  they  still  remain. 

About  seven  years  after  the  first  voyage  of  Columbus, 
Amerigo  Vespucci,  a  Florentine  gentleman,  visited  the 
West  Indies,  and  also  landed  on  the  eastern  coast  of  South 
America.  On  his  return  he  published  a  glowing  descrip- 
tion of  the  newly  discovered  countries.  From  this  cir- 
cumstance the  name  America  was  given  to  the  New 
World  by  a  German  writer  on  Geography,  who  may  have 
been  ignorant  of  the  claims  of  Columbus. 


CHAPTEE  II. 

AMERICAN  PREHISTORIC  RACES. 

The  Origin  op  the  American  Indian. 

Who  were  the  first  human  beings  on  the  American  CHAP. 
continent?  How  did  they  get  there?  In  these  ques-  n> 
tions  we  have  the  twofold  aspect  of  a  problem  which, 
from  the  time  of  Columbus  to  our  own  day,  has  proved 
of  absorbing  interest  to  every  type  of  mind.  The 
many  attempts  at  a  solution  of  this  problem  resolve 
themselves  into  three  distinct  theories.  The  first  of 
them  that  gained  general  currency  regarded  the  aborig- 
inal Americans  as  descendants  of  the  lost  tribes  of 
Israel.  This  view  was  certainly  stimulating  to  the 
imagination,  and  its  very  picturesqueness  must  have 
contributed  immensely  to  its  diffusion.  Even  the  sci- 
entific and  skeptical  critic  found  in  the  idea  an  incentive 
to  careful  study  of  the  manners  and  customs  of  the 
natives  of  our  continent,  in  the  hope  of  thus  discovering 
analogies  that  would  lead  ultimately  to  the  truth.  But 
science  has  slowly  but  surely  undermined  the  founda- 
tions— such  as  they  were — of  this  belief,  and  it  remains 
to-day  what  it  was  in  the  beginning— -a  mere  assumption  t  V 

and  nothing  more.  ;. * 

The  second  theory  takes  us  Jback  to  one  of  the  famous 
legends  of  the  ancient  Greeks.'  This  is  the  legend  of 
Atlantis,  an  island  realm  of  the  western  seas,  of  which 
Plato  gives  us  a  splendid  vision  in  one  of  his  most  im- 
pressive passages.  To  state  this  theory  in  its  crudest 
but  simplest  form,  Atlantis  must  have  been  a  vast  land 

17 


s 


18  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

CHAP,  area,  or  series  of  land  areas,  extending  from  Europe  to 
the  continent  of  America.  Our  remote  predecessors 
were  thus  afforded  a  natural  bridge  over  which  they 
crossed  by  easy  stages  from  the  Old  World  to  the  New. 
That  some  vague  tradition  of  this  sort  had  survived  in 
the  minds  of  men  from  a  very  ancient  period  is  beyond 
dispute.  The  legend  of  Atlantis  had  evidently  cast  its 
spell  over  the  imagination  of  the  old  Koman  philosopher 
Seneca,  inspiring,  it  may  be,  his  immortal  prophecy  that 
mankind  would  yet  discover  a  new  world  beyond  the 
seas.  The  fancy  of  Columbus  had  been  caught  by  the 
boldness  of  the  same  vision,  and  the  fabled  Atlantis 
thus  became  a  factor  in  the  achievement  of  the  greatest 
triumph  in  the  annals  of  geographical  science.  Nor  is 
this  island  continent  of  Atlantis  to  be  dismissed  as  a  mere 
creation  of  the  myth-makers.  Many  able  men  of  science 
have  seen  no  escape  from  the  conclusion  that  a  bridge  or 
area  of  land  extending  across  the  Atlantic  Ocean  must 
have  afforded  the  path  by  means  of  which  human  beings 
first  gained  the  American  continent.  Science  in  this 
twentieth  century  does  not,  to  be  sure,  view  the  subject 
in  the  simple  spirit  of  the  old  Spaniard  who,  on  the 
strength  of  the  land-bridge  theory,  assigned  a  Celti- 
berian  origin  to  the  Indians.  The  theory  removes  one 
difficulty,  but  it  creates  another.  What  became  of  the 
convenient  continent  between  Europe  and  America?  It 
can  scarcely  have  subsided  beneath  the  waves  without 
leaving  a  trace  of  its  former  presence.  Yet  every  at- 
tempt to  establish  even  the  outlines  of  the  missing  conti- 
nent by  sounding  the  heights  and  depths  of  the  Atlantic 
has  proved  an  idle  task.  Only  the  most  tremendous  of 
natural  convulsions  could  have  wiped  out  a  vast  land 
area,  between  Europe  and  America.  The  advanced 
geological  science  of  our  time  can  find  no  traces  of  a 
submersion  on  this  gigantic  scale.  Nevertheless,  geolo- 
gists of  distinction  have  maintained  that  the  northern 


AMERICAN   PREHISTORIC    RACES.  19 

bed  of  the  Atlantic  was  not  always  covered  with  water.  CHAP. 
If  their  view  be  the  right  one,  man  may  have  left  the  __ 
Old  World  for  the  New  at  a  time  when  climatic  conditions 
on  the  earth  were  very  different  from  those  known  to  us. 
We  come  now  to  the  third  and  last  theory  of  the 
peopling  of  America.  The  shipping  of  Asiatic  coast 
dwellers  was  driven  from  time  to  time  by  stress  of  wind 
and  weather  as  far  as  the  Alaskan  shore.  An  involun- 
tary migration  was  thus  set  up  from  a  remote  prehis- 
torical  period.  A  glance  at  the  map  shows  this  view  of 
the  case  to  be  an  extremely  simple  one.  Nowhere  do 
the  continents  of  the  Old  World  and  the  New  come  so 
closely  together  as  in  the  Alaskan  region.  That  slender 
arm  known  as  Bering  Strait  forms  the  only  division 
between  these  mighty  areas.  Transit  from  one  to  the 
other  can  have  presented  no  insuperable  difficulties  even 
to  the  most  primitive  craft.  The  plausibility  of  this 
view  is  supported  by  certain  resemblances  between  the 
American  aborigines  and  Mongolian  peoples.  Some 
American  races  of  the  Pacific  states  have  characteristics 
in  common  with  the  nations  of  civilized  Asia.  There 
are  Chinese  legends  of  a  land  of  Fu-schan  which  point 
unmistakably  to  Aztec  civilization,  in  the  opinion  of 
many  scientists.  Upon  these  and  other  considerations 
is  based  the  theory  of  a  Chinese  origin  for  the  first 
inhabitants  of  America.  But  all  this  ingenious  theo- 
rizing has  been  unable  to  withstand  the  ordeal  of  more 
searching  investigation.  America  was  certainly  not 
peopled  by  the  Alaskan  route  within  a  period  during 
which  we  can  trace  even  the  most  ancient  Chinese  races. 
Only  after  the  glacial  period  did  the  remote  northwestern 
extremity  of  our  continent  emerge  from  the  bosom  of 
the  Pacific.  Such,  at  any  rate,  is  the  conclusion  of 
recent  geological  science.  The  first  dwellers  of  America 
could  never  have  traversed  the  infinite  width  of  waters 
stretching  in  that  dim  and  distant  pre-glacial  past  from 


20  HISTORY    OF   THE   AMERICAN-   PEOPLE. 

CHAP,  pole  to  pole.     The  bones  of  many  generations  of  men 
•     were  already  whitening  even  then  in  the  soil  of  the 
New  World. 

This  time-worn  question  has,  however,  lost  much  of 
its  importance.  The  human  race  in  the  Old  World  can 
not  be  traced  back  to  a  remoter  past  than  the  human 
race  in  the  New.  But  America  was  not  the  cradle  of 
the  human  race,  for  the  anthropoid  apes  never  made 
their  home  there.  This  much  is  established  by  the  fos- 
sil ' i  finds. ' '  Yet  the  theory  of  evolution  cannot  dis- 
pense with  the  anthropoid  apes  as  the  connecting  link 
between  man  and  the  lower  animals.  It  is,  of  course, 
possible  that  the  first  human  beings  on  our  continent 
gained  access  to  it  at  a  time  when  the  divisions  of  land 
and  water  on  the  earth's  surface  were  as  yet  totally  dif- 
ferent from  those  we  know  anything  about.  If  so, 
geology  will  some  day  be  in  a  position  to  establish  the 
fact  beyond  dispute.  Meanwhile  we  can  only  suspend 
judgment  upon  theories  assigning  an  Asiatic  origin  to 
America's  savage  and  half -savage  peoples.  All  dis- 
putes as  to  whether  America's  civilization  is  the  out- 
come of  Aryan  or  of  Semitic  influences  must  be  indeed 
idle  if  man  first  made  his  home  on  this  continent  at  a 
time  when  his  fellow  creatures  in  the  Old  World  still 
shared  with  the  brutes  the  privilege  of  devouring  some 
fallen  carcass,  and  still  found  in  a  natural  cave  of  the 
mountains  their  only  refuge  from  the  elements.  And 
we  know  that  life's  development  in  the  New  World  was 
continuous  and  unaffected  by  any  outside  influence, 
from  the  age  of  the  mammoth  down  to  the  discovery 
by  Christopher  Columbus. 

At  a  later  age  than  that  of  the  mammoth — although 

f       even  this  later  age  was  well  within  the  prehistorical  period 

— America  already  had  a  considerable  population.    This 

is  shown  by  the  great  size  and  wide  diffusion  of  those 

rubbish-mounds   known   as    kitchen-middens.       These 


AMERICAN   PREHISTORIC    RACES.  21 

comprise  heaps  of  fish  refuse  mingled  with  the  domestic  CHAP. 
utensils  and  other  relics  of  prehistoric  man,  all  dating  • 
back  to  the  oldest  American  form  of  civilization  or 
semi-civilization.  Some  of  the  mounds,  however,  are 
assignable  to  as  recent  a  period  as  the  later  stone  age, 
beyond  which  the  Indians  of  eastern  South  America 
never  advanced.  But  even  the  most  ancient  of  them 
must  have  been  of  very  slow  formation.  In  many  in- 
stances they  are  hundreds  of  feet  long  and  of  great 
height.  The  elements  would  certainly  have  interfered 
with  a  rapid  accumulation  of  such  masses,  which  abound 
along  the  coasts  as  well  as  throughout  the  interior  of 
North  and  South  America.  The  fairly  dense  popula- 
tion indicated  by  this  state  of  things  is  significant. 
Were  Europe  and  Asia  in  this  remote  era  inhabited  by 
races  as  yet  never  civilized?  If  so,  the  evolution  of 
any  form  of  civilization  on  the  American  continent  can- 
not have  been  due  to  any  foreign  influence.  Former 
geographical  conditions  on  our  continent  would  not 
enter  into  the  question  in  the  least.  Argument  based 
upon  such  a  theory  would  be  as  futile  as  the  speculations 
of  Cortez  and  Pizarro  regarding  those  twin  mysteries  of 
life  in  the  New  World — the  civilizations  of  Mexico  and 
of  Peru. 

It  was  reasonable  to  anticipate  that  a  study  of  the 
dialects  and  traditions  of  the  primitive  races  of  America 
might  throw  some  light  on  their  origin.  But  the  result 
is  disappointing.  The  savage  in  a  state  of  nature  is 
found  to  have  little  knowledge  and  less  curiosity  regard- 
ing his  own  origin.  In  exceptional  cases  he  may  recall 
the  names  of  both  his  father  and  his  grandfather.  He 
may  even  remember  where  they  lived.  Anything  more 
than  this  involves  him  in  a  maze  of  childish  fancy. 
The  language  in  which  these  primitive  Americans  con- 
veyed their  few  ideas  had  more  elements  of  permanence. 
But  it  was  subject,  nevertheless,  to  countless  modifica- 


22  HISTORY    OF   THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

CHAP,  tions,  arising  principally  from  the  introduction  of  cap- 
n-  tive  women  into  a  conquering  tribe.  For  our  earliest 
predecessors  on  this  continent  had  every  instinct  of  the 
beast  of  prey.  There  is  every  reason  to  suspect  that 
cannibalism  in  its  most  ruthless  form  once  prevailed 
throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  America.  Man 
triumphed  over  his  prey  by  devouring  him  and  won  his 
wife  by  stealing  her.  Such  was  the  order  of  ideas 
conveyed  by  a  formless  speech  which  must  long  have 
remained  but  a  stage  in  advance  of  the  uncouth  cry  of 
the  brute.  Rude  word-forms,  the  survivors,  it  may  be, 
of  this  period  of  warfare  of  "  all  against  all,"  have 
been  analyzed  with  infinite  patience  in  the  light  of  lin- 
guistic science,  only  to  leave  the  student  very  often  as 
wise  at  the  end  of  his  labors  as  he  was  in  the  beginning. 


Racial  Divisions  op  the  Indians. 

The  whole  population  of  the  region  now  comprising 
the  United  States  can  scarcely  have  exceeded  half  a 
million  in  the  time  of  Columbus.  The  number  is  sur- 
prisingly insignificant  in  comparison  with  the  vastness 
of  the  area.  Indeed,  the  earliest  students  of  the  subject 
concluded  that  the  inhabitants  of  our  portion  of  Amer- 
ica must  have  numbered  some  millions  in  the  year  1492. 
We  know  now  that  these  observers  were  misled  partly 
by  the  accounts  of  the  red  men  themselves,  partly  by 
the  bewildering  variety  of  dialects  that  prevailed,  and 
partly  by  the  probabilities  of  the  case.  It  is  possible 
that  the  population  of  North  America,  in  an  indefinite 
prehistoric  period,  could  have  been  computed  by  the 
million.  But  this  population  had  evidently  been  declin- 
ing for  a  long  time — perhaps  for  centuries.  We  may 
attribute  this  decline,  perhaps,  to  a  type  of  civilization 
unfitted  to  cope  with  the  surrounding  savagery  of  the 
red  man.     How  the  red  man  himself  reared  the  super- 


AMERICAN   PREHISTORIC    RACES.  23 

structure  of  his  peculiar  mode  of  life  during  the  slow  CHAP, 
decline  of  the  prehistoric  civilization  we  can  only  vaguely 
conjecture. 

When  the  Indians  of  our  part  of  the  world  came  so 
abruptly  into  history,  their  state  of  culture  presented 
three  stages.  These  stages  were  not  sharply  defined. 
In  fact,  they  tended  to  shade  into  one  another,  although 
they  were  sufficiently  distinguishable  for  purposes  of 
study  and  classification.  The  most  abject  of  the  tribes 
were  in  what  is  called  the  later  period  of  savagery. 
They  used  the  bow  and  arrow,  but  had  no  pottery. 
Tillage  of  the  soil  was  beyond  their  capacity.  On  a 
higher  plane  than  this  were  the  Indians  in  the  older 
period  of  barbarism.  They  could  raise  a  crop  of  some- 
thing resembling  maize,  they  herded  together  within  a 
circle  of  hovels,  and  they  fished  and  hunted  in  a  hap- 
hazard and  disorganized  way.  We  must  look  to  the 
"  village"  Indians — those  in  the  middle  period  of  bar- 
barism— for  the  highest  type  of  culture  on  this  conti- 
nent when  Columbus  reached  it.  These  tribes  had  an 
agriculture  and  an  architecture.  They  were  progressing 
in  a  definite  direction.  But  they  were  overcome  at  in- 
tervals by  the  savages  of  a  ruder  type,  and  in  the  strug- 
gle for  existence  they  were  doomed  not  to  survive.  The 
Indians  in  the  second  stage,  the  older  period  of  barbar- 
ism, might  have  made  themselves  supreme  over  the 
whole  North  American  continent  had  not  the  arrival  of 
the  European  changed  the  whole  course  of  human  his- 
tory in  the  New  World.  So  much  we  may  infer  from 
their  rapid  progress  along  the  lines  of  federation  and 
their  capacity  for  combination  in  a  military  sense. 

The  half-million  Indians  of  the  Columbian  period 
have  been  differentiated  into  about  a  dozen  racial  stocks. 
It  is  true  that  these  twelve  nationalities  or  races  were 
not  evident  to  the  first  observers,  nor  is  it  to  be  supposed 
that  the  lines  of  demarcation  were  absolute.     This  clas- 


24  HISTORY    OF   THE    AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

CHAP,  sification  of  the  native  American  applies,  moreover, 
•  only  to  those  members  of  the  red  race  dwelling  north  of 
what  is  now  Mexico.  And  while  each  of  these  twelve 
nationalities  had  features  peculiar  to  itself,  all  had  in 
common  those  general  traits  of  person  and  character 
which  unfailingly  denote  the  "  noble  red  man."  The 
type  varied  little.  A  copper-colored  skin,  prominent 
cheek-bones,  straight  black  hair,  and  a  keen  dark  eye, 
were  the  universal  physical  heritage.  The  funda- 
mental ideas  of  these  beings  were  formed  on  equally 
rigid  lines.  All  held  tenaciously  to  certain  laws  of  kin- 
dred, upon  which  their  conception  of  government  and 
society  was  founded.  Every  red  man  was  passionately 
attached  to  his  particular  area  of  the  continent  which 
comprised  the  "home  land"  of  his  people.  This 
attachment  was  absolute.  One  nationality  seldom,  if 
ever,  annexed  the  domain  of  another,  although  they 
frequently  invaded  it.  These  two  principles  of  conduct 
— reverence  for  ties  of  kindred  and  devotion  to  the  soil 
— are  the  grand  clues  to  Indian  human  nature. 

The  Algonquins  come  first  in  order  of  the  twelve 
groupings  we  have  to  consider.  Their  vast  domain 
extended  along  the  coast  of  the  Atlantic  from  Labrador 
to  South  Carolina,  stretching  inland  almost  to  that 
4 1  father  of  waters, ' '  the  Mississippi.  The  Algonquins 
were  fighters  who  knew  not  the  meaning  of  fear.  They 
would  tolerate  no  authority  but  their  own  within  the 
region  they  regarded  as  the  land  of  their  race.  Our 
authentic  knowledge  of  them  does  not  go  back  quite  to 
the  Columbian  period,  but  they  were  among  the  first 
red  men  to  come  into  contact  with  European  civilization. 
The  effect  upon  their  disposition  was  disastrous,  yet 
sonfe  of  the  noblest  and  most  remarkable  types  of  Indian 
character  were  produced  by  the  innumerable  tribes 
making  up  the  Algonquin  stock. 

A  still  more  gifted  people  were  the  Iroquois,  among 


AMERICAN    PREHISTORIC    RACES.  25 

whom   we  include  the   Hurons.     Ethnologists  of   dis-  CHAP. 

tinction   maintain   that   these  tribes  are    really   of   the ^ 

Algonquin  race.  Be  this  as  it  may,  their  lands  bounded 
those  of  the  Algonquins  for  many  miles,  especially  in 
the  region  of  the  great  lakes,  and  comprised  much  of 
the  territory  within  the  present  State  of  New  York, 
extending  southward,  moreover,  as  far  as  the  mountain 
region  of  Virginia.  The  Hurons  and  the  Iroquois  sup- 
plied the  general  type  of  Indian  character  that  enriches 
the  pages  of  Fenimore  Cooper,  while  their  prowess  in 
war  has  imparted  a  sanguinary  aspect  to  our  colonial 
history.  The  Iroquois  got  their  appellation  from  the 
French,  and  they  seem  to  have  been  divided  at  first 
into  five  tribes,  to  which  was  subsequently  added  a  sixth. 
The  "  Six  Nations "  annihilated  many  tribes  in  the 
course  of  their  warlike  history.  They  developed  a 
perfectly  framed  system  of  federal  union.  Their  chiefs 
met  in  regular  council  to  determine  the  common  policy 
of  their  alliance.  So  well  executed  were  their  measures 
of  war  and  peace  that  their  power  became  irresistible. 
These  ' '  Romans  of  the  West ' '  would  have  conquered 
the  new  world  east  of  the  Mississippi  and  north  of  the 
Ohio,  according  to  Parkman,  had  the  white  man  deferred 
his  appearance  for  another  hundred  years  or  so.  The 
gift  of  eloquence  was  theirs  in  a  marked  degree,  and 
the  speeches  of  Logan  and  Eed  Jacket  have  become 
classic. 

The  land  of  the  Dakotas — third  on  our  list  of  races — 
comprised  the  leagues  of  billowy  prairie  that  roll  west- 
ward from  the  Mississippi  to  the  foot  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains.  The  Dakotas  were  known  to  the  French  as 
Sioux,  and,  as  was  inevitable  in  the  case  of  a  prairie 
people,  they  were  renowned  hunters  of  the  buffalo. 
Some  of  their  more  eastern  tribes  had  a  primitive  kind 
of  agriculture,  but  the  Dakotas  generally  subsisted  from 
the   chase.     Their   physical  characteristics  were   often 


26  HISTORY    OF   THE  AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

CHAP,  strikingly  unlike  those  of  all  other  red  men.  The  color 
11  and  texture  of  their  hair  presented  variations  not  met 
with  elsewhere,  while  in  complexion  their  women  ap- 
proached more  nearly  to  the  blonde  type  than  did  the 
squaws  of  the  other  North  American  tribes.  They  spent 
more  time  in  their  ablutions  than  seemed  proper  to  the 
Indian  of  the  coast,  and  the  hair  of  both  males  and 
females  was  allowed  to  attain  its  full  growth.  There 
was  a  reserve  in  the  character  of  a  Dakota  squaw  that 
suggested  some  notion  of  feminine  delicacy;  and  her 
attachment  to  her  children  is  the  subject  of  many  beau- 
tiful stories.  The  men  were  magnificent  swimmers. 
They  loved  personal  adornment  and  were  affable  in 
manner.  Their  cruelty,  however,  was  proverbial.  The 
exquisite  tortures  they  inflicted  upon  captives  were 
equaled  only  by  the  punishments  they  contrived  for 
themselves.  Their  purpose  in  thus  testing  their  own 
powers  of  endurance  was  the  same  as  that  of  the  ancient 
Spartans. 

The  Athabascan  Indians  formed  a  northern  stock. 
The  possessions  of  these  tribes  included  much  of  what 
has  since  become  the  Dominion  of  Canada,  and  they 
hunted  even  as  far  northward  as  Alaska.  Their  lands 
also  extended  considerably  within  the  present  limits  of 
the  United  States,  for  the  Apaches  and  Navajoes  were 
Athabascans,  although  some  authorities  incline  to  the 
view  that  the  Apaches  were  really  southerners.  The 
Athabascans  generally  were  a  fierce  and  untamable  peo- 
ple. Some  of  the  tribes  lived  by  fishing.  Others  are 
said  to  have  kept  slaves.  Again,  we  are  assured  that 
many  Athabascan  clans  were  mild  and  gentle  until  contact 
with,  the  white  race  transformed  them.  The  truth  seems 
to  be  that  the  vast  territory  inhabited  by  these  people 
was  long  inaccessible  to  the  trader  and  explorer.  Our 
knowledge  of  the  Athabascans  has,  therefore,  been 
meager  or  conflicting. 


AMERICAN   PREHISTORIC   RACES.  27 

The  Esquimaux  are  the  most  northern  of  the  races  CHAP, 
within  our  scheme  of  classification.  Their  country  n- 
comprises  a  thin  strip  of  snow  land  capping  the  North 
American  continent.  They  are  at  once  the  most  interest- 
ing and  the  most  repellent  of  peoples.  Small,  hairy- 
faced,  dull  and  dirty,  they  have  always  stood  apart 
from  the  other  races  encountered  by  the  European  in 
his  conquest  of  the  new  world. 

The  Thlinket  tribes  lived  on  the  Pacific  coast,  between 
the  Simpson  River  and  Mount  St.  Elias.  They  seem  to 
have  been  miserable  creatures  physically,  who  had  no 
settled  mode  of  life  and  no  particular  capacity  as  hunters 
or  fishers.  Some  writers  consider  them  a  degenerate 
branch  of  the  so-called  Columbian  race,  which  forms 
one  of  the  most  important  of  our  twelve  subdivisions. 
The  hunting  grounds  of  the  Columbian  Indians  included 
the  whole  of  the  present  states  of  Washington  and 
Oregon,  besides  a  great  portion  of  the  area  to  the  imme- 
diate north,  which  is  n  >w  called  British  Columbia. 
They  are  said  to  have  professed  especial  devotion  to  the 
"  Great  Spirit."  Many  of  the  tribes  suffered  severely 
from  scarcity  of  food,  and  subsisted  for  months  at  a 
time  upon  roots  and  even  grasses.  Their  chief  weapon 
was  a  primitive  kind  of  spear,  which  they  did  not  discard 
until  long  after  experience  with  the  white  trader  had 
developed  a  certain  fierceness  in  their  disposition. 
Some  of  the  Columbian  tribes  were  expert  canoeists. 
One  branch  of  the  race  was  characterized  by  a  mal- 
formation of  the  cranium,  produced,  it  is  said,  by 
pressure  on  the  head  during  infancy. 

The  California  Indians  are  seventh  in  our  classifica- 
tion, their  low  level  of  existence  calling  for  no  extended 
notice.  The  Yumas  come  next,  their  home  being  in 
southern  Arizona  and  eastern  California. 

We  have  now  to  consider  briefly  the  very  important 
Pueblos.     Not  only  were  they   a  distinctive  stock  in 


28  HISTORY    OF   THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

CHAP,  physique  and  culture,  but  they  are  regarded  as  the  sur- 
vivors  of  the  prehistoric  civilization  of  the  North  Ameri- 
can continent.  Their  territory  in  the  Columbian  period 
can  scarcely  have  exceeded  the  present  limits  of  New- 
Mexico  and  Arizona,  although  there  is  much  plausible 
evidence  in  favor  of  a  more  comprehensive  area.  At 
the  time  of  their  discovery  by  the  Spaniards,  the  Pueblos 
had  long  been  in  a  state  of  decline ;  but  even  then  their 
superiority  to  every  form  of  culture  north  of  Mexico 
was  striking.  It  is  as  architects  that  these  people  make 
their  most  powerful  appeal  to  the  attention  of  the  student. 
The  famous  Cliff  Palace  in  Colorado  is  an  impressive 
memorial  of  the  antiquity  as  well  as  of  the  splendor  of 
their  civilization.  It  is  inferred  that  this  race  had  been 
receding  for  generations  before  a  rising  tide  of  barbarism. 
Some  authorities  contend  that  the  Pueblos  are  the  dis- 
tant kin  of  the  Aztecs.  There  are  certainly  many 
striking  similarities  between  them.  The  most  recent 
investigation,  however,  tends  to  dissipate  this  idea. 
Pueblo,  it  should  be  noted,  means  village,  and  it  is  as 
"village  Indians"  that  the  Spaniards  sought  to  dis- 
tinguish them.  The  village  in  this  instance  was  almost 
a  town,  and  the  inhabitants,  even  in  their  dejected  con- 
dition, represented,  as  has  been  observed  heretofore,  the 
most  advanced  culture  within  the  area  north  of  Mexico. 
The  Shoshones  were,  to  adopt  their  own  expression, 
"  a  great  people."  They  inhabited  a  vast  and  vaguely 
denned  region  in  the  northwest,  roaming  over  the  terri- 
tory now  assigned  to  Idaho,  Utah,  Wyoming,  and 
adjacent  states.  The  Pawnees  dwelt  in  this  region  also, 
the  two  races  having  many  characteristics  in  common, 
although  they  used  different  dialects.  Taking  them  to- 
gether, their  lands  reached  as  far  south  as  Texas,  and 
they  presented  an  infinite  variety  of  tribal  character, 
from  the  destitute  root  diggers  of  the  mountains  to  the 
i  *  warlike  Comanches. ' ' 


AMERICAN    PREHISTORIC    RACES.  29 

Finally,  we  have  the  Appalachians,  or  Muskokis,  a  CHAP, 
spirited  and  intelligent  race  or  series  of  races.  They  II- 
lived  in  what  the  American  of  to-day  calls  * '  the  south,  ? ) 
that  is,  in  the  area  from  the  Carolinas  to  the  Gulf  as  far 
westward  as  Louisiana.  Some  of  the  most  famous  tribes 
in  our  history,  such  as  the  Choctaws,  the  Creeks,  the 
Seminoles,  and  the  Cherokees,  were  of  this  Appalachian 
stock.  All  of  these  peoples  were  extremely  handsome, 
from  the  Indian  point  of  view,  and  very  vain  of  their 
personal  appearance.  The  first  effect  of  contact  with 
the  white  man  was  an  epidemic  of  smallpox,  which  is 
said  to  have  ravaged  them  mercilessly  and  to  have  spared 
but  a  fraction  of  their  original  numbers.  All  were  more 
or  less  addicted  to  fanciful  deformations  of  themselves, 
and  all  were  proficient  in  treachery.  Some  observers 
credit  them  with  a  greater  facility  in  the  acquisition  of 
European  languages  than  any  other  red  race  displayed. 

Such  was  the  racial  aspect  of  America  north  of  Mexico, 
in  the  time  of  Columbus,  or  at  any  rate  in  a  period  not 
much  later  than  his  day.  This  division  into  twelve 
families  is  not  perfectly  accurate,  nor  does  it  receive  the 
sanction  of  all  authorities.  But  it  answers  the  purpose 
of  classification  very  well,  although  another  scheme, 
would  lessen  the  number  of  distinct  races  by  enlarging 
the  application  of  the  term  Algonquin.  It  may  be  an- 
ticipated that  scientists  will  in  time  discover  a  simpler 
system  of  classification  than  the  vague  one  prevailing. 

Social  and  Intellectual  Conditions  of  the  Indians. 

The  social,  moral,  and  personal  relations  of  the 
Indians  of  America,  north  of  Mexico,  show  the  effect  of 
a  long  and  intimate  contact  with  nature.  They  had  no 
notion  of  private  property  in  land.  Nobody  could  in- 
herit anything,  in  our  legal  sense  of  the  word.  The  unit 
of  society  was  not  the  family.  Even  the  family  was  not 
an  institution,  for  the  father  had  no  status  as  such. 


30  HISTORY    OF   THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

CHAP.  Speaking  generally,  the  tribe,  which  was  sometimes 
only  a  small  gathering  of  two  hundred  persons,  was 
organized  on  the  basis  of  the  clan.  This  clan  was  a 
grouping  of  individuals  under  the  limited  authority  of  a 
male  member  who  stood  in  some  relation  of  kinship  to 
them  all.  But  this  kinship  was  traced  almost  always 
through  the  female  line,  and  marriage  within  that  circle 
was  forbidden,  although  a  man  belonging  to  one  clan 
could  marry  a  woman  of  another  clan.  Hence,  a  cer- 
tain relationship  by  marriage  was  apt  to  exist  through- 
out all  the  tribe,  but  an  individual  always  belonged  to 
the  clan  of  the  mother.  Occasionally  tribes  were  en- 
countered with  a  gentile  basis  of  kinship,  descent  being 
reckoned  through  the  male.  There  was  also  a  system  of 
adoption  into  a  tribe  in  which  relationship  was  nominally 
in  the  female  line.  The  family  authority  was  vested  in 
the  eldest  member  of  the  circle.  Thus  an  elder 
brother  exacted  obedience  from  a  younger.  In  the  tribe 
at  large,  however,  the  governmental  authority  depended 
almost  wholly  upon  personal  merit,  especially  in  time  of 
war. 

The  several  clans  forming  a  tribe  dwelt  together. 
Their  habitations  radiated  about  a  common  center,  but 
were  usually  close  to  one  another.  The  common  center 
was  likely  to  be  the  rallying  place,  in  which  general 
concerns  were  discussed.  Here  the  old  men  and  the 
valiant  warriors  (herded  under  one  great  roof,  or,  it 
might  be,  out  in  the  open)  planned  war  or  the  hunt, 
worshiped  the  ' '  Great  Spirit, ' '  or  merely  frittered 
away  the  time.  As  for  the  dwellings,  they  were  apt  to 
be  constructed  of  poles,  logs,  twigs,  or  sod,  according 
to  the  resources  at  command.  The  sanitary  arrange- 
ments were  nearly  always  most  primitive,  a  fact  which 
explains  the  general  liability  of  the  red  man  to  epidemics. 
The  squaws  did  the  work,  while  the  men  fought  and 
amused  themselves.     But  it  was  not  unusual  for  women 


AMERICAN    PREHISTORIC    RACES.  31 

of  forceful  character  to  acquire  influence  in  the  council,  CHAP. 
while  the  more  elderly  females  were  sometimes  regarded 
with  a  kind  of  veneration.     Life  was  not  apt  to  be  dull 
in  the  village,  for  everybody  knew  everybody  else,  and 
the  spirit  of  emulation  was  keen. 

Dress  and  personal  adornment  were  among  the  occa- 
sions of  this  emulation.  Attire  was  variegated,  the  hide 
of  the  deer,  the  hare,  the  buffalo,  and  even  the  snake, 
contributing  some  element  to  the  general  effect.  Shirts 
and  leggings  were  the  conspicuous  necessities  of  the 
men,  and  the  skins  of  their  four-footed  quarry  supplied 
the  materials.  But  softer  fabric  was  available  in  the 
6hape  of  vegetable  fibers  woven  in  combination  with  fur, 
sinew,  and  feathers.  These  materials  served  the  women 
for  skirts — garments  which  rarely  reached  the  ground. 
The  men  had,  apparently,  little  notion  of  the  coat. 
Their  upper  garments  were  sack-like,  with  holes  for  the 
head  and  arms.  The  nether  garment  varied  from  the 
loin-cloth  supplemented  with  leggings  to  an  elaborate 
covering  of  skin  and  feathers,  which  decorated  the  lower 
limbs  with  a  porcupine-like  fringe.  There  were,  of 
course,  tribes  which  wore  very  little  at  all  in  the  way  of 
attire.  Others  had  different  sets  of  clothes  for  all  the 
occasions  of  life,  —  political,  military,  and  religious. 
The  robe  seems  to  have  been  used  more  for  ceremony 
than  for  service.  The  use  of  the  moccasin  was  widely 
distributed,  although  the  word  seems  to  have  been  pe- 
culiar to  the  Algonquin  peoples.  This  footwear  was 
usually  of  deer-skin,  or  some  kind  of  leather,  and  the 
sole  was  soft.  So,  too,  was  the  upper,  which  had  often 
much  ornament.  The  head  of  the  Indian  was  sur- 
mounted by  feathery  or  hairy  contrivances,  which  be- 
came more  elaborate  as  the  tribe  rose  in  the  scale  of 
existence. 

Personal  adornment  was  one  of  the  great  concerns  of 
life.     The  manliest  brave  did  not  disdain  to  give  minute 


32  HISTORY    OF   THE   AMERICAN    PEOPLE. 

CHAP,  attention  to  the  tattooing  of  his  skin  and  the  painting  of 
his  face.  The  former  operation  was  painful,  necessita- 
ting the  employment  of  darts  made  of  fish-bone  or 
metal.  The  flesh  was  pricked  in  a  stabbing  manner  that 
inflicted  exquisite  pain,  while  the  coloring  matter  had 
sometimes  a  poisonous  effect  that  caused  death.  But 
the' Indian  attached  6ueh  great  importance  to  the  beasts, 
birds,  suns,  or  stars  stamped  indelibly  upon  his  body  that 
the  chance  of  death  did  not  deter  him  from  the  practice. 
These  adornments,  in  addition  to  their  value  from  the 
medicine- man's  point  of  view,  conferred  certain  social 
advantages.  Painting  was  an  indispensable  requisite  of 
ceremonial  intercourse.  The  males  daubed  their  fore- 
heads, noses,  eyebrows,  and  craniums,  and  the  females 
their  cheeks.  There  seems  to  have  been  no  fixed 
standard  of  taste  in  this  matter,  except  that  in  war  the 
braves  conformed  to  a  type  of  decoration  that  apprised 
the  beholder  of  a  state  of  hostilities.  It  has  been  said 
that  the  experienced  observer  could  almost  read  the  life 
history  of  an  Indian  by  the  paintings  upon  his  person, 
but  this  could  not  have  applied  to  the  average  case. 
There  can  be  no  doubt,  however,  that  a  gathering  of 
the  clans  in  the  village  center  was  apt  to  be  preceded  by 
an  enormous  application  of  paint. 

The  personal  relations  of  the  tribesmen  with  one  an- 
other were  rather  pleasant,  on  the  whole.  Their  notions 
of  dignity  and  of  social  forms  were  severely  adhered  to, 
and  the  innumerable  assemblages  to  dance,  or  to  sing, 
or  to  pray  in  common,  always  had  a  definite  order  of 
procedure.  They  began  with  an  address  by  some  ven- 
erable elder  or  recognized  chief,  but  they  ended,  very 
oftenj  in  noise  and  frenzied  excitement.  But  this  was, 
in  a  sense,  the  conventional  course  of  events,  especially 
on  religious  occasions.  "Weird  dances,  attended  at  times 
with  self-inflicted  violence,  formed  the  leading  ceremo- 
nial element  in  these  rites,  and  led  naturally  to  the  phy- 


AMERICAN   PREHISTORIC   RACES.  33 

sical  collapse  of  all  concerned.  These  performances  were  CHAP. 
designed  as  a  formal  recognition  of  certain  personifica-  ~~* 
tions  of  nature,  and  constituted  the  only  public  worship 
of  which  the  Indians  were  capable.  They  seem  to  have 
had  little  inward  relation  to  the  individual,  and  worship 
was  rarely  solitary.  But  other  phases  of  religion  were 
numerous,  for  the  mind  of  the  red  man  resembled  the 
mind  of  the  ancient  Greek  in  its  readiness  to  attribute 
personality  to  the  forces  and  faces  of  nature.  Some 
tribes  made  a  god  of  the  thunder  and  lightning,  and  others 
of  the  sun.  The  winds  were  brothers,  each  with  his 
appropriate  name.  Every  beast  of  the  forest  was  dei- 
fied in  the  abstract  and  was  typical  of  a  sentiment  or  a 
power.  The  antelope  meant  peace  to  the  Dakotas,  and 
the  grizzly  bear  signified  war.  In  nothing  was  the  In- 
dian's close  contact  with  nature  more  strikingly  mani- 
fested than  in  his  conception  of  the  supernatural. 

The  rites  of  this  many-sided  system  of  personification 
were  not  limited  to  the  dance.  There  were  incantations 
by  means  of  fire  and  water,  accompanied  by  singing,  and 
addresses  to  the  guardian  spirit  of  the  tribe.  The  bear, 
the  wolf,  the  eagle,  were  tokens  of  this  spirit,  who  was 
as  likely  as  not  to  be  of  a  malignant  disposition,  to  be 
propitiated  only  by  the  gloomiest  and  most  hideous  prac- 
tices. This  fact  contributed  immensely  to  the  medicine- 
man's importance.  He  was  supposed  by  some  of  the 
tribes  to  hold  communication  with  the  spirits  of  evil, 
and  to  be  able  to  reduce  them  to  a  state  of  subjection. 
Hence  his  efficacy  as  a  physician.  Herbs  and  roots  had 
a  magical  rather  than  a  therapeutic  value,  and  experience 
has  not  generally  sustained  the  traditional  reputation  of 
Indian  remedies.  The  medicine-man  was  a  contortionist 
of  proficiency,  and  lathered  himself  into  a  foam  during 
an  important  ceremony.  This  personage,  by  the  way, 
should  not  be  confused  with  a  sachem,  who  in  many 
tribes  had  a  quite  different  authority.     The  sachem  fre- 


34  HISTORY    OF   THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

CHAP,  quently  united  the  character  of  chief  with  that  of  ven- 
**•  erable  old  man.  His  authority  was  supernatural  only  in 
exceptional  cases,  whereas  the  medicine-man  was  always 
something  of  a  magician.  The  tribes  of  the  western 
prairies  seem  to  have  encouraged  the  magic  of  the  medi- 
cine-man in  a  quite  extraordinary  degree,  and  their  type 
of^  religion  invested  these  strange  creatures  with  almost 
the  importance  of  a  sacerdotal  caste.  It  was  undoubtedly 
the  function  of  the  medicine- man  to  interpret  the  tribe's 
crude  philosophy  of  life  and  apply  it  to  the  emergencies 
of  every  day, — material  as  well  as  spiritual.  Thus  was 
brought  about,  probably,  the  connection  between  the 
Indian  system  of  medicine  and  the  Indian  system  of  wor- 
ship. There  is  no  reason  to  infer  that  the  medicine- 
man lacked  faith  in  himself  or  in  his  system.  He  was 
not  always  consciously  a  quack  or  an  upholder  of  delu- 
sion. 

The  "  Great  Spirit,"  of  whom  so  much  is  made,  has 
occasioned  controversy.  This  being  was  originally  ac- 
cepted as  the  Indian's  idea  of  one  supreme  deity,  reward- 
ing the  good  and  punishing  the  evil.  But  later  investi- 
gation leads  to  the  suspicion  that  the  ' '  Great  Spirit ' ' 
and  "the  happy  hunting  grounds"  may  have  been  read 
into  the  Indian's  theology  through  the  misunderstand- 
ings of  early  travelers  and  missionaries.  On  the  other 
hand,  many  of  the  tribes  revered  a  single  supernatural 
personality,  who  was  credited  with  an  indefinite  suprem- 
acy over  their  concerns.  The  ease  with  which  most 
tribes  accepted  the  notion  of  a  supreme  being  from  the 
missionary,  has  been  held  to  denote  that  their  own  pre- 
vious theology  was  in  line  with  that  idea.  The  lore  of 
the  medicine-men,  which  ought  to  decide  the  point,  does 
not  always  sustain  this  theory.  There  were  many  gods 
in  their  systems,  but  there  was  little  agreement  as  to  the 
supremacy  of  any  one.  Each  tribe  had  its  favorite  divin- 
ity,  the  tendency  being  to  exalt  him  until  a   "  great 


AMERICAN   PREHISTORIC   RACES.  35 

spirit ' '  of  local  jurisdiction  was  evolved.  This  object  CHAP. 
of  general  veneration  was  represented  in  an  animal  form,  ' 
for,  as  we  have  observed  already,  every  animal  was  in 
the  abstract  an  earthly  aspect  of  some  deity.  "When, 
theref ore,  a  tribe  had  evolved  its  ' '  great  spirit, ' '  his  form 
in  this  world  was  identified  with  the  bear,  or  the  buffalo, 
or  some  other  available  creature,  which  became  the  to- 
tem or  object  of  everybody's  superstition.  Many  savages 
regarded  themselves  as  descendants  of  their  totem.  If 
this  happened  to  be  an  elk,  they  must  refrain  from  mo- 
lesting that  animal,  fearing  dire  penalties.  A  poisonous 
serpent  has  been  elevated  to  the  rank  of  totem,  in  which 
case  it  inspires  no  dread,  except  among  traitors  to  the 
tribe,  who  must  infallibly  die  of  its  bite.  Many  totems 
were  those  of  a  clan  rather  than  of  a  whole  tribe.  They 
were  drawn  or  cut  upon  the  entrances  to  the  dwelling, 
and  in  certain  cases  were  tattooed  upon  the  clansman's 
body.  One  far  western  tribe  had  adopted  the  head  of 
the  buffalo  for  its  totem,  another  the  tail.  Again,  a 
totam  might  inspire  such  awe  that  its  devotees  feared  to 
look  at  it.  Individuals  owing  allegiance  to  a  common 
totem  had  special  obligations  to  one  another.  This  cir- 
cumstance led  to  the  formation  of  secret  covenants  which 
grew  into  cults,  presided  over  by  the  medicine-men. 

The  totem,  of  course,  invested  the  Indian  mythology 
with  a  peculiar  solemnity.  Life  in  the  other  world  was 
considered  a  higher  type  of  the  life  of  this  world.  The 
red  men  conceived  the  gods  to  have  been  divided  into 
clans,  to  meet  for  common  action,  and  to  concern  them- 
selves with  the  fate  of  human  beings.     The  gods  were 

©  © 

shades,  but  could  assume  any  material  form,  and  their 
magical  powers  were  infinite.  They  were  occasionally 
pleased  to  descend  to  earth  in  human  shape  for  the 
benefit  of  mankind.  Such  a  character  was  Hiawatha, 
the  wise,  who  came  down  from  above  before  Columbus 
had   reached   America.     He  taught  men  the  ways  of 


36  HISTORY   OK  THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

CHAP,  wisdom,  and  at  his  suggestion  the  great  confederacy 
^  of  the  Iroquois  was  formed.  While  the  tribesmen  were 
in  council,  Hiawatha  and  his  beautiful  daughter  emerged 
from  a  canoe,  and  a  mighty  wind  was  heard.  The 
heavens  were  obscured  by  an  enormous  heron,  snow- 
white,  which  overwhelmed  and  killed  the  maiden  in  its 
rush  and  slew  itself.  Hiawatha  grieved  for  his  child 
but  fulfilled  his  mission,  and  the  Iroquois  "  became  a 
mighty  people."  On  a  somewhat  lower  imaginative 
level  was  the  great  hero  Atatarho,  who  lived  alone  in  a 
cave,  drinking  from  the  skulls  of  his  fallen  foes.  He 
wore  garments  of  living  serpents  and  spent  his  leisure 
in  meditation,  solaced  by  his  pipe,  until  the  Indian  tribes 
about  his  home  made  him  the  chief  of  their  confederacy. 
Those  were  the  days  of  ■ '  Gitche  Manito,  the  mighty, 
the  creator  of  the  nations, ' '  or,  in  less  poetic  language, 
of  some  period  of  storm*  and  stress  among  the  tribes 
reflecting  itself  in  the  cosmogony  of  the  medicine-man. 
Thus  the  legends  involve  themselves  with  the  real  and 
the  unreal,  appearing  in  many  shapes,  the  delight  of 
the  poet  and  the  despair  of  the  scientist. 

Immoderate  indulgence  in  dancing  and  open-air 
exercise,  varied  by  eating  to  repletion,  constituted  the 
leading  phases  of  social  life  to  the  Indian  mind.  Out- 
door games  and  athletic  competitions  formed  an  impor- 
tant part  of  the  business  of  life  to  which  much  time  was 
devoted. 

Probably  the  most  celebrated  of  these  diversions  was 
a  match  between  two  sets  of  opposing  players  with  the 
object  of  carrying  or  throwing  a  ball  through  the  ranks 
of  those  on  the  other  side.  This  game  was  played 
without  any  particular  rules,  nor  was  there  any  limit  to 
the  number  of  players.  Hand  implements  not  unlike 
butterfly  nets  were  used  in  the  pursuit  of  the  ball.  The 
match  entailed  much  dodging,  leaping  and  running, 
and  was  regarded  as  a  splendid  part  of  the  education  of 


AMERICAN   PREHISTORIC    RACES.  37 

a  warrior,  fitting  him  for  the  battlefield  and  giving  him  CHAP. 
strength  and  endurance.  A  game  of  this  kind  would  _ 
not  infrequently  last  the  greater  part  of  the  day,  and 
was  participated  in  by  every  able-bodied  man  in  a 
village,  while  the  rest  of  the  inhabitants  looked  on  and 
applauded.  Such  is  the  origin  of  the  modern  game  of 
lacrosse. 

Another  spirited  game  was  "  snow-snake,"  a  winter 
sport  of  immense  popularity.  A  solid  layer  of  snow 
over  all  the  land,  and  a  long,  slender  piece  of  wood 
curved  upward  at  one  end  were  the  requisites  of  this 
amusement.  The  object  was  to  see  who  could  propel 
the  piece  of  wood  farthest  over  the  hard  surface  of  the 
snow.  This  looked  simple,  but  it  required  great  deft- 
ness and  muscular  power.  The  stick  had  to  be  grasped 
at  the  back  and  shot  forward  by  a  movement  of  the  arm. 
It  then  glided  over  the  snow,  with  end  curved  upward 
and  a  tremulous  movement  that  strikingly  suggested  the 
serpent.*  Some  of  the  braves  could,  it  is  said,  send 
the  snow-snake  a  quarter  of  a  mile.  There  were  other 
forms  of  this  game,  which,  by  means  of  a  wheel-shaped 
contrivance,  could  be  adapted  to  the  summer  season. 

The  squaws  had  their  ways  of  amusing  themselves  as 
well  as  the  braves.  Among  them  was  football, — not 
the  kind  we  know,  but  a  game  with  the  object  of  keep- 
ing the  ball  up  in  the  air.  This  involved  energetic  and 
constant  muscular  exercise.  Other  games  were  played 
with  pieces  of  bone  and  horn.  The  players  sat  on  the 
ground,  and  the  competition  was  one  mostly  of  skill  in 
tossing.  There  were  also  social  diversions  and  forms  of 
amusement  in  which  both  the  braves  and  the  squaws 
participated.  A  circle  was  formed  about  a  blanket  or  a 
fire,  while  some  player  inside  or  outside  the  ring  tried 
to  find  a  bone  or  chip  that  passed  from  hand  to  hand. 

It  seems  clear  that  Indian  character  suffered  from  an 
inadequate  idea  of  the  social  value  of  the  sexes  to  each 


38  HISTORY    OF   THE   AMERICAN    PEOPLE. 

CHAP,  other.  In  general,  there  was  a  well-defined  difference 
***  between  the  work  of  a  man  and  that  of  a  woman.  The 
notion  entertained  of  woman's  sphere  may  be  inferred 
from  the  fact  that  the  enslaved  prisoner  was  "  degraded  " 
by  compelling  him  to  work  with  the  squaws.  Women 
gathered  the  firewood,  tilled  the  ground,  if  the  tribe 
happened  to  be  agricultural,  hauled  the  household  goods 
when  the  village  moved  to  a  new  site,  cooked,  and  were 
generally  useful.  The  list  of  their  tasks,  it  must  be 
remembered,  looks  much  more  formidable  than  it 
really  was,  for  there  were  many  squaws  and  no  great 
amount  of  toil  to  be  done. 

There  seem  to  have  been  occasions  when  wives 
accompanied  their  husbands  on  hostile  expeditions,  but 
as  a  rule  they  stayed  at  home.  The  brave  could  usually 
dissolve  his  marriage  at  any  time,  but  the  tendency  seems 
to  have  been  among  the  strongest  tribes  towards  mon- 
ogamy. The  Hurons  had  a  bad  reputation  as  regards 
the  relations  between  the  sexes,  and  polygamy  was 
practiced  in  many  tribes.  Marriage  was  not  the  subject 
of  any  definite  ethics,  but  a  wife's  position  was  clearly 
determined,  and  in  her  home  she  was  mistress.  The 
wigwam  was  usually  known  by  the  wife's  name  when  it 
had  any  designation  at  all. 

Morally  and  intellectually  the  Indian  was  a  contra- 
diction. He  had  the  instinct  of  vengeance  in  an  ex- 
traordinary degree.  The  pursuit  of  a  foe  during  many 
years,  and  his  ruthless  slaughter  at  last,  were  deemed  a 
moral  proceeding.  Allusion  has  been  made  more  than 
once  to  Indian  treachery.  Certain  tribes  were  very 
proud  of  their  capacity  in  this  direction,  as  tales  told 
around  the  camp  fire  and  recorded  on  high  authority 
abundantly  prove.  The  infliction  of  torture,  under  every 
conceivable  circumstance  of  horror  and  atrocity,  afforded 
the  Indian  the  greatest  of  his  many  inducements  to  war. 
With  some  tribes,  in  fact,  torture  was  a  cult  and  they 


INDIANS  ATTACKING  A  SETTLER'S  HOME. 


AMERICAN   PREHISTORIC   RACES.  39 

practiced  it  with  diabolical  inventiveness  and  ingenuity.  CHAP. 
Of  benevolence  there  was  seldom  any  trace,  and  yet_ 
this  must  not  be  held  to  deny  the  existence  of  kindness 
within  a  given  circle.  The  Indian  could  feel  a  sense  of 
duty  to  persons  of  real  or  nominal  relationship  to  him- 
self, but  he  had  little  sense  of  his  duty  to  man  as  man. 
His  myths  and  traditions  show  a  kind  of  savage  ethics, 
with  here  and  there  some  glimmering  of  a  noble  idea 
obscured  by  the  superstition  that  overgrows  it.  His 
theory  of  conduct  had  relation  almost  entirely  to  physical 
consequences. 

The  dog  was  the  companion  of  the  Indian  when 
Columbus  came,  but  no  other  domestic  animal  was  in 
his  service.  The  buffalo  was  never  tamed.  '  JSTor  did 
the  red  man  know  what  to  do  with  the  ores  that  cropped 
richly  to  the  surface  of  the  ground  he  trod.  It  was  as 
much  as  he  could  accomplish  to  shape  a  nugget  by  ham- 
mering it.  Pottery,  outside  of  the  Pueblo  region,  never 
attained  importance,  although  much  serviceable  ware 
was  made  by  hand  and  decorated  tastefully.  Food  was 
obtained  in  variety  and  often  in  abundance.  The  veg- 
etable kingdom  yielded  berries,  fruits,  maize,  maple 
sugar,  and  even  rice  of  an  indigenous  wild  variety,  and 
wild  honey.  Fish  abounded,  but  certain  tribes  would 
not  eat  this  sort  of  food.  The  innumerable  creatures  of 
the  forest  and  prairie  supplied  the  larder,  and  rendered 
want  a  consequence  only  of  primitive  savagery. 

Every  investigator  has  been  surprised  by  the  great 
number  of  dialects  prevailing  among  the  North  Ameri- 
can Indians.  There  has  been  much  speculation  as  to 
the  cause  of  the  phenomenon,  some  referring  it  to  the 
isolation  of  clans  and  tribes  in  so  vast  a  space,  while 
others  think  the  mixture  of  tribes  resulting  from  war- 
fare and  vicissitudes  must  be  held  responsible.  The 
folk-lore  of  the  Indians  throws  little  light  on  this  matter, 
but  it  greatly  illumines  every  other  aspect  of  the  original 


40  HISTORY    OF   THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

CHAP.  American's  existenee.  It  is  thought  significant  of  a 
_____  childish  intellectual  condition  that  the  animal  story  is 
given  so  much  prominence.  The  bear,  the  beaver,  the 
buffalo,  the  coyote,  and  the  grasshopper,  were  all  sub- 
jects of  an  infinite  number  of  fables.  There  seems  to 
be  some  indefinite  connection  between  this  imaginative- 
ness and  the  language  in  which  its  imagery  finds  expres- 
sion. At  any  rate,  a  theory  of  this  sort  has  given  a 
decided  impetus  in  recent  years  to  the  renewed  study 
and  classification  of  the  folk-lore.  The  wealth  of  ma- 
terial is  infinite.  Tales  of  the  wars  among  the  buffaloes, 
of  ghostly  lovers,  and  star  maids,  or  of  the  woman  who 
married  a  tree,  are,  in  this  view  of  the  case,  sources  of 
knowledge  that  may  yet  dispel  much  of  the  darkness  in 
which  the  history  of  the  pre-Columbian  redskin  is  in- 
volved. There  is  but  one  detail,  although  it  is  an  im- 
portant one,  upon  which  anything  like  agreement  pre- 
vails. The  characteristic  of  the  Indian  was  childishness. 
He  was  a  child  in  his  wars,  in  his  religions,  in  the  boy- 
like barbarities  of  which  he  was  guilty. 

Precisely  what  the  Indians  could  have  had  to  go  to 
war  about  prior  to  the  time  of  Columbus  it  is  difficult 
to  imagine.  Their  wars  nevertheless  appear  to  have 
been  long  and  bloody.  By  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  the  red  man  had  evolved  a  military  code  of  his 
own,  and,  of  course,  the  presence  of  the  white  man  did 
not  retard  his  development  as  a  fighter.  The  u  braves  " 
were  a  recognized  element  of  standing  and  influence  in 
the  Indian  village.  They  were  the  strongest  and  most 
active  of  the  young  men .  "With  more  or  less  regularity, 
they  set  forth  together  or  singly  in  pursuit  of  the  foe. 
Their  weapons  on  such  expeditions  were  bludgeons, 
axes',  slings,  daggers,  and  scalping-knives.  The  manu- 
facture of  these  implements  was  inevitably  crude,  al- 
though skill  of  a  certain  primitive  kind  was  not  wanting. 
But  the  arrow  of  the  Indian  was  a  work  of  art.     The 


AMERICAN   PREHISTORIC    RACES.  41 

head  of  the  arrow  was  usually  of  quartz,  or  white  agate,  CHAP 
or  kindred  substances,  pointed  with  delicate  precision 
into  the  acutest  of  barbs.  This  was  fixed  either  to  a 
stout  quill  or  to  a  hardwood  stick,  or  well- weigh  ted 
rush,  and  the  whole  steadied  for  flight,  when  necessary, 
by  a  tail  of  feathers.  The  arrow-head  was  barbed  at 
the  back  very  often  to  prevent  its  easy  withdrawal  by  a 
victim.  Sometimes  the  arrow-head  was  made  of  bone. 
Sinew  and  thongs  secured  it  to  the  stick. 

The  bow  was  a  long,  curved  piece  of  hickory,  when- 
ever that  wood  was  available.  Otherwise  any  suitable 
material,  even  buffalo- horns  and  driftwood,  could  be 
made  to  serve.  The  string  connecting  the  ends  was 
mostly  of  gut,  and  was  stretched  with  no  more  tautness 
than  would  permit  the  bending  of  the  bow  to  the  full. 
It  was  in  the  terrific  force  of  the  recoil  thus  produced 
that  the  deadliness  of  the  arrow's  flight  originated. 
Nothing  in  aboriginal  American  life  was  so  terribly 
impressive  as  the  silent  flight  of  a  volley  of  arrows 
among  the  foe.  The  braves  aimed  from  ambush  when- 
ever possible.  Their  tactics  enabled  flight  after  flight  of 
arrows  to  be  poured  with  consummate  skill  and  rapidity 
into  the  very  center  of  a  mass  of  panic-stricken  victims. 

The  arrows  having  been  discharged,  the  next  move- 
ment was  a  rush  of  the  braves  upon  the  enemy,  provided 
the  enemy  were  sufficiently  weak  and  helpless.  Then 
the  scalping-knife  came  into  requisition.  Scalping  was 
a  simple  process  surgically,  but  it  required  much  skill 
and  experience  to  do  it  neatly  and  with  speed.  The 
brave  seized  the  locks  on  top  of  his  victim's  head,  made 
one  round  slash  with  the  knife  and  ripped  the  skin 
from  the  skull.  The  scalp  thereafter  might  dangle  from 
the  belt  of  the  brave,  or  serve  some  other  purpose  of 
adornment.  Its  possession  conveyed  to  the  savage  mind 
the  idea  of  distinction,  and  to  have  many  scalps  in  this 
fashion  denoted  a  personality  of  importance.     But  no 


42  HISTORY   OF  THE  AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

CHAP,  military  authority  or  rank  seems  to  have  accompanied 
these  insignia  of  prowess,  although  they  constituted  a 
weighty  claim  to  preferment  in  the  tribe. 

Having  no  conception  of  the  regiment,  and  little 
imperative  need  of  discipline,  the  Indians  entirely  lacked 
war  organization.  Their  movements  were  simply  planned 
and  cruelly  executed.  The  silence  of  the  forest  soli- 
tudes and  the  stillness  of  evening  furthered  the  perpe- 
tration of  every  imaginable  treachery.  The  mother  and 
her  babes  perished  as  they  slept,  whole  villages  were 
wiped  out  in  a  night,  and  ruin  and  desolation  were 
everywhere. 

The  tomahawk  was  a  battle- ax  with  a  stone  head. 
This  head  was  variously  fashioned,  sometimes  consisting 
of  a  wedge-shaped  stone,  sharpened  to  a  cutting  edge 
and  again  being  merely  the  pronged  fragment  of  a  deer- 
horn.  The  weapon  thus  produced  was  not  unwieldy, 
and  its  deadliness  was  unquestionable.  Burying  the 
tomahawk  symbolized  peace  to  many  tribes,  as  digging 
it  up  was  equivalent  to  a  proclamation  of  war.  The 
Indian  learned  much  from  the  European  regarding  war, 
and  he  taught  much  in  return,  the  result  being  that 
peculiar  form  of  hostility  known  in  our  early  history  as 
1  i  border  warfare. ' '  The  red  man  made,  all  things 
considered,  a  bad  ally  but  a  formidable  foe.  He  changed 
sides  at  almost  a  moment's  notice,  and  made  peace  as 
readily  as  he  went  to  war.  In  some  few  tribes  fighting 
was  the  business  of  a  particular  clan  or  clans,  but  the 
notion  of  a  military  caste  was  otherwise  foreign  to  the 
Indian  mind.  The  distinction  between  officers  and  men 
did  not  exist,  the  authority  of  the  chief  in  actual  battle 
having  not  the  slightest  relation  to  the  course  of  events. 
Here  again,  however,  the  influence  of  the  white  man 
asserted  itself,  and  the  Indians  of  the  colonial  period 
had  done  much  in  the  direction  of  a  scientific  military 
system. 


CHAPTEB    III. 

SPANISH   DISCOVERIES   AND   CONQUESTS. 

Sooth  Sea. — First  Voyage  round  the  World. — Ponce  de  Leon. — Florida, 
Discorery  and  Attempt  to  settle. — Vasquez  de  Ayllon. — Conquest  of 
Mexico  and  Peru. 

In  a  few  years  the  Spaniards  subdued  and  colonized  the   chap 

most  important  islands  of  the  West  Indies.     The  poor  

timid  natives  were  either  murdered  or  reduced  to  slavery.    1606. 
Unheard-of  cruelties  in  a  short  time  wasted,  and  almost 
exterminated  the  entire  race. 

Not  satisfied  with  the  possession  of  these  islands,  the 
Spaniards  made  further  discoveries  from  time  to  time 
around  the  Gulf  of  Mexico ;  they  explored  the  southern 
part  of  the  peninsula  of  Yucatan  ;  they  planted  a  colony 
on  the  narrow  Isthmus  of  Darien.  Until  this  time,  no  151& 
settlement  had  been  made  on  the  Western  Continent. 

When  in  search  of  gold,  Nunez  de  Balboa,  the  govern- 
or of  this  colony,  made  an  exploring  tour  into  the  interior, 
he  ascended  a  high  mountain,  and  from  its  top  his  eyes 
were  greeted  with  the  sight  of  a  vast  expanse  of  water 
extending  away  to  the  south,  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach. 
He  called  it  the  South  Sea.  But  seven  years  later,  Magel-  1520. 
Ian,  a  Portuguese  mariner  in  the  service  of  Spain,  passed 
through  the  dangerous  and  stormy  Straits  which  bear  his 
name  ;  and  sailing  out  into  the  great  field  of  waters,  found 
it  so  calm,  so  free  from  storms,  that  he  called  it  the  Pacific 
or  peaceful  ocean.  Magellan  died  on  the  voyage,  but  his 
ship  reached  the  coast  of  Asia,  and  thence  returned  home 

4a 


44  HISTOKY   OF  THE    AMEBICAN   PEOPLE. 

chap,    to  Spain  by  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  thus  realizing  the 

L  vision  of  Columbus,  that  the  world  was  a  globe,  and  could 

1512.    be  sailed  round. 

Juan  Ponce  de  Leon,  a  former  governor  of  Porto  Kico,  fit- 
ted out  at  his  own  expense  three  ships  to  make  a  voyage 
of  discovery.  He  had  heard  from  the  natives  of  Porto  Kico 
that  somewhere  in  the  Bahama  Islands,  was  a  fountain 
that  would  restore  to  the  vigor  of  youth  all  those  who 
should  drink  of  its  waters  or  bathe  in  its  stream.  This 
absurd  story  many  of  the  Spaniards  believed,  and  none 
more  firmly  than  De  Leon.  He  was  an  old  man,  and 
anxious  to  renew  his  youthful  pleasures  ;  with  eager  hopes 
he  hastened  in  search  of  the  marvellous  fountain. 

He  did  not  find  it,  but  in  coasting  along  to  the  west  of 
the  islands,  he  came  in  sight  of  an  unknown  country.  It 
appeared  to  bloom  with  flowers,  and  to  be  covered  with 
magnificent  forests.  As  this  country  was  first  seen  on 
Easter  Sunday,  which  the  Spaniards  call  Pascua  Florida, 
he  named  it  Florida.  With  great  difficulty  he  landed  to 
the  north  of  where  St.  Augustine  now  stands,  and  took 
formal  possession  of  the  country  in  the  name  of  the  Spanish 
sovereign.  He  sailed  to  the  south  along  the  unknown  and 
dangerous  coast,  around  the  extreme  point,  Cape  Florida, 
and  to  the  south-west  among  the  Tortugas  islands.  He 
received  for  his  services  the  honor  of  being  appointed  Gov- 
ernor of  Florida  by  the  King  of  Spain, — rather  an  expen- 
sive honor,  being  based  on  the  condition  that  he  should 
colonize  the  country. 

A  year  or-  two  afterward,  he  attempted  to  plant  a 
colony,  but  found  the  natives  exceedingly  hostile.  They 
attacked  him  and  his  men  with  great  fury — many  were 
killed,  the  rest  were  forced  to  flee  to  their  ships,  and  Ponce 
de  Leon*  himself  was  mortally  wounded.  He  had  been  a 
soldier  of  Spain  ;  a  companion  of  Columbus  on  his  second 
voyage  ;  had  been  governor  of  Porto  Rico,  where  he  had 
oppressed  the  natives  with  great  cruelty ;  he  had  sought 


VASQUEZ    DE    AYLLON.  45 

an  exemption  from  the  ills  of  old  age  ;  had  attempted  to   chap 

found  a  colony  and  gain  the  immortality  of  fame.    But  he  

returned  to  Cuba  to  die,  without  planting  his  colony  or    1512 
drinking  of  the  fountain  of  youth. 

About  this  time  was  made  the  first  attempt  to  obtain 
Indians  from  the  Continent  as  slaves  to  work  in  the  mines 
and  on  the  plantations  of  Hispaniola  or  St.  Domingo.  The 
ignominy  of  this  attempt  belongs  to  a  company  of  seven 
men,  the  most  distinguished  of  whom  was  Lucas  Vasquez 
de  Ayllon.  They  went  first  to  the  Bahama  Islands,  from 
these  they  passed  to  the  coast  of  the  present  State  of  South 
Carolina,  landing  at  or  near  St.  Helena  Sound. 

The  natives  of  this  region  knew  not  as  yet  what  they 
had  to  fear  from  Europeans.  They  were,  however,  shy  at 
first,  but  after  presents  had  been  distributed  among  them, 
they  received  the  strangers  kindly.  They  were  invited  to 
visit  the  ships.  Curiosity  overcame  their  timidity,  and 
they  went  on  board  in  crowds.  The  treacherous  Spaniards 
immediately  set  sail  for  St.  Domingo,  regardless  of  the 
sorrows  they  inflicted  upon  the  victims  of  their  cruelty  and 
avarice.  Thus  far  their  plot  was  successful ;  soon  how-  152a 
ever  a  storm  arose,  and  one  of  the  ships  went  down  with 
all  on  board  ;  sickness  and  death  carried  off  many  of  the 
captives  on  the  other  vessel.  Such  outrages  upon  the  na- 
tives were  common  ;  and  instead  of  being  condemned  and 
punished,  they  were  commended.  Vasquez  went  to  Spain, 
boasting  of  his  expedition  as  if  it  had  been  praiseworthy. 
As  a  reward,  he  received  from  the  Spanish  monarch  a 
commission  to  conquer  the  country. 

When  he  had  expended  his  fortune  in  preparations,  he 
set  sail,  and  landed  upon  the  coast.  Bitter  wrongs  had 
been  inflicted  upon  the  natives,  and  their  spirit  was  roused. 
They  attacked  him  with  great  vigor,  killed  nearly  all 
his  men,  and  forced  him  to  give  up  the  enterprise.  It  is 
said  that  grief  and  disappointment  hastened  the  death  of 
Vasquez. 


46  HISTORY  OF  THE   AMEKICAN   PEOPLE. 

chap.  The  Spaniards  were  more  successful  elsewhere.     The 

explorers  of  the  west  coast  of  the  Gulf  had  heard  of  the 

1620.  famed  empire  of  Mexico  and  its  golden  riches.  As  evi- 
dence of  the  truth  of  these  marvellous  stories,  they  exhib- 
ited the  costly  presents  given  them  by  the  unsuspecting 
natives.  Under  the  lead  of  Fernando  Cortez,  six  hun- 
dred and  seventeen  adventurers  invaded  the  empire  ;  and 
though  they  met  with  the  most  determined  resistance,  in 
the  end  Spanish  arms  and  skill  prevailed.  Defeated  at 
every  point,  and  disheartened  at  the  death  of  their  em 
1021.  peror,  Montezuma,  the  Mexicans  submitted,  and  their  em- 
1821.  pire  became  a  province  of  Spain.  Just  three  hundred 
years  from  that  time,  the  province  threw  off  the  Spanish 
yoke,  and  became  a  republic. 

Kumor  told  also  of  the  splendor  and  wealth  of  a  great 
empire  lying  to  the  south,  known  as  Peru.  Pizarro, 
another  daring  adventurer,  set  out  from  Panama  with  only 
one  hundred  foot  soldiers  and  sixty-seven  horsemen  to  in- 
vade and  conquer  it.  After  enduring  toil  and  labors 
almost  unparalleled,  he  succeeded  ;  and  that  empire,  con 
taining  millions  of  inhabitants,  wealthy,  and  quite  civilized, 
1581  was  reduced  to  a  province.  Pizarro  founded  Lima,  which 
became  his  capital.  He  oppressed  the  natives  with  great 
cruelty,  and  accumulated  unbounded  wealth  drawn  from 
mines  of  the  precious  metals,  but  after  a  rule  of  nine  years 
he  fell  a  victim  to  a  conspiracy. 


Americus  Vespucci 


OHA  PTER  IV. 

BNGUSH   AND   FRENCH   DISCOVERIES. 

John  Cabot  discovers  the  American  Continent. — Enterprise  of  his  son  Se- 
bastian.— Voyages  of  Verrazzani  and  Cartier. — Attempts  at  Settlement. 

Whilst  these    discoveries,    conquests,   and   settlements   chap 

were  in  progress  in  the  South,  a  series  of  discoveries  was  [_ 

going  on  in  the  North.  149Y. 

John  Cabot,  a  native  of  Venice,  residing,  as  a  merchant, 
in  Bristol,  in  the  West  of  England,  made  application  to 
Henry  VII.,  the  reigning  sovereign,  for  permission  to  go 
on  a  voyage  of  discovery.  The  king  gave  to  Cabot  and 
his  three  sons  a  patent,  or  commission,  granting  them  cer- 
tain privileges.  This  is  said  to  be  the  most  ancient  state 
paper  of  England  relating  to  America. 

As  Henry  VII.  was  proverbially  prudent  in  money 
matters,  he  would  not  aid  the  Cabots  by  sharing  with 
them  the  expense  of  the  expedition,  but  he  was  careful  to 
bind  them  to  land,  on  their  return,  at  the  port  of  Bristol, 
and  pay  him  one-fifth  part  of  the  profits  of  their  trade. 
They  were,  in  the  name  of  the  king,  to  take  possession  of 
all  the  territories  they  should  discover,  and  to  have  the  ex- 
clusive privilege  of  trading  to  them. 

Bristol,  at  this  time,  was  the  greatest  commercial  town 
in  the  West  of  England,  and  had  trained  up  multitudes 
of  hardy  seamen.  These  seamen  had  become  habituated 
to  the  storms  of  the  ocean,  by  battling  tempests  in  the 
Northern  seas  around  Iceland,  in  their  yearly  fishing  ex- 
cursions.    It  is  quite  probable  they  had  there  heard  the 


48  HISTOEY  OF  THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

chap,    tradition,  that  at  a  remote  period  the  Icelanders  had  dis- 

'_  covered  a  country  to  the  west  of  their  island. 

1497.  Cabot  and  his  son  Sebastian  sailed  almost  due  west, 

and  before  long  discovered  the  American  continent,  it  is 
supposed  near  the  fifty-sixth  degree  of  north  latitude. 
What  must  have  been  their  surprise  to  find,  in  the  lati- 
tude of  England,  a  land  dreary  with  snow  and  ice,  barren 
rocks,  frowning  cliffs,  polar  bears,  and  wild  savages  !  This 
discovery  was  made  more  than  a  year  before  Columbus,  on 
his  third  voyage,  saw  the  South  American  coast,  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Orinoco. 

Thus  the  Western  continent  was  discovered  by  pri- 
vate enterprise  alone.  The  next  year  a  voyage  was  under- 
taken for  the  purposes  of  trade,  and  also  to  ascertain 
if  the  country  was  suitable  for  making  settlements.  The 
king  now  ventured  to  become  a  partner  in  the  speculation, 
and  defrayed  some  of  the  expense.  Sebastian  Cabot  sailed, 
with  a  company  of  three  hundred  men,  for  Labrador,  and 
landed  still  further  north  than  at  his  first  voyage.  The 
severity  of  the  cold,  though  it  was  the  commencement  of 
summer,  and  the  barrenness  of  the  country,  deterred  him 
from  remaining  any  length  of  time.  He  sailed  to  the 
South  and  explored  the  coast,  till  want  of  provisions  forced 
him  to  return  home.  The  family  of  the  Cabots  derived 
no  benefit  from  their  discovery,  as  the  trade  to  those  barren 
regions  amounted  to  nothing. 

It  is  a  matter  of  regret  that  so  little  is  known  of  the 
many  voyages  of  Sebastian  Cabot.  Around  his  name  there 
lingers  a  pleasing  interest.  He  is  represented  as  being 
very  youthful,  not  more  than  twenty  years  of  age,  when 
he  went  on  his  first  voyage.  Mild  and  courteous  in 
his  manners  ;  determined  in  purpose,  and  persevering 
in  execution  ;  with  a  mind  of  extraordinary  activity  ; 
daring  in  his  enterprises,  but  never  rash  or  imprudent  ; 
he  won  the  hearts  of  his  sailors  by  his  kindness,  and 
commanded  their   respect  by  his   skill.     Such   was  the 


VOYAGE    OF    VERRaZZANI.  49 

man  who,  for  more  than  fifty  years,  was  the  foremost  in   chap 

maritime  adventure.     He  explored  the  eastern  coast  of  1 

South  America  ;  sailed  within  twenty  degrees  of  the  North    1497. 
Pole,  in  search  of  the  North-Western  passage  ;  and  at  dif- 
ferent times  explored  the  eastern  coast  of  this  continent, 
from  Hudson's  straits  to  Albemarle  sound. 

The  Cabots  had  noticed  the  immense  shoals  of  fish  1634 
which  frequented  the  waters  around  Newfoundland.  The 
English  prosecuted  these  fisheries,  but  to  no  great  extent, 
as  they  continued  to  visit  the  Icelandic  seas.  French  fish- 
ermen, however,  availed  themselves  of  the  way  opened  by 
their  rivals,  and  prosecuted  them  with  great  vigor.  Plans 
for  planting  colonies  in  those  regions  were  often  proposed 
in  France,  yet  nothing  was  done  beyond  the  yearly  visits 
of  the  fishermen.  Francis  I.  was  finally  induced  to  attempt 
further  explorations.  For  this  purpose  he  employed  Ver- 
razzani,  a  native  of  Florence,  in  Italy,  a  navigator  of  some 
celebrity,  to  take  charge  of  an  expedition.  This  was  the 
first  voyage,  for  the  purpose  of  discovery,  undertaken  at 
the  expense  of  the  French  government. 

Verrazzani  sailed  south  to  the  Madeira  Isles,  and  thence 
due  west,  in  quest  of  new  countries.  On  the  passage  he 
battled  a  terrible  tempest,  but  at  length  saw  land  in  the 
latitude  of  Wilmington,  North  Carolina.  No  good  har- 
bor could  be  found  as  he  coasted  along  to  the  south  for 
one  hundred  and  fifty  miles.  Then  turning  north,  he  cast 
anchor  from  time  to  time  and  explored  the  coast.  The 
surprise  of  the  natives  and  that  of  the  voyagers  was  mu- 
tual ;  the  one  wondered  at  the  white  strangers,  their  ships 
and  equipments  ;  the  other  at  the  "  russet  color"  of  the 
simple  natives  ;  their  dress  of  skins  set  off  with  various  rude 
ornaments  and  gaudy-colored  feathers.  The  imagination 
of  the  voyagers  had  much  to  do  with  the  report  they  made 
)f  their  discoveries.  The  groves,  they  said,  bloomed  with 
lowers,  whose  fragrance  greeted  them  far  from  the  shore, 


50  HISTORY   OF  THE    AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

chap,  reminding  them  of  the  spices  of  the  East ;  the  reddish 

L  color  of  the  earth  was,  no  doubt,  caused  by  gold. 

1634.  The  explorers  examined  carefully  the  spacious  harbors 

of  New  York  and  Newport ;  in  the  latter  they  remained 
fifteen  days.  They  noticed  the  fine  personal  appearance 
of  the  natives,  who  were  hospitable,  but  could  not  be  in- 
duced to  trade,  and  appeared  to  be  ignorant  of  the  use  oi 
iron.  They  continued  their  voyage  along  the  then  name- 
less shores  of  New  England  to  Nova  Scotia,  and  still  far- 
ther north.  There  the  natives  were  hostile ;  they  had 
learned,  by  sad  experience,  the  cruelty  and  treachery  of 
white  men.  Gaspar  Cortereal,  a  Portuguese,  some  years 
before,  had  visited  their  coast,  stolen  some  of  their  friends, 
and  sold  them  into  slavery.  They  were  willing  to  trade 
for  instruments  of  iron  or  steel,  but  were  very  cautious, 
fearful  of  being  again  entrapped. 

After  his  return,  Verrazzani  published  a  narrative  of 
his  voyage,  giving  much  more  information  of  the  country 
than  had  hitherto  been  known.  On  the  ground  of  his  dis- 
coveries, France  laid  claim  to  the  territory  extending  from 
South  Carolina  to  Newfoundland. 

1584.  Ten  years  after,  an  expedition  was  sent,  under  James 

Cartier,  a  mariner  of  St.  Malo,  to  make  further  discoveries, 
with  the  ultimate  design  of  founding  a  colony.  His  voyage 
was  very  successful ;  he  reached  Newfoundland  in  twenty 
days  ;  passed  through  the  Straits  of  Belle  isle  ;  sailed  to  the 
south-west  across  a  gulf  and  entered  a  bay  ;  which,  from 
the  extreme  heat  of  the  weather,  he  named  Des  Chaleurs. 
Coasting  along  still  farther  west,  he  landed  at  the  inlet 
called  Gaspe,  where  he  took  formal  possession  of  the  coun- 
try, in  the  name  of  his  sovereign.  This  he  did  by  plant- 
ing a  cross,  surmounted  by  the  lilies  of  France,  and  bear- 
*  ing  a  suitable  inscription.  Continuing  his  course  still 
further  west,  he  entered  the  mouth  of  a  great  estuary,  into 
which  he  ascertained  flowed  an  immense  river,  larger  by 
far  than  any  river  in  Europe.     These  explorations  were 


Sebastian  Cabot 


VOYAGE   OF   CAKTIEB  51 

made  during  the  months  of  July  and  August.    It  was  now  oi*ap. 
necessary  for  him  to  return  home.  

His  account  of  the  climate  as  "  hotter  than  that  of  1584* 
Spain,"  and  of  the  country  as  "  the  fairest  that  can  pos- 
sibly be  found  ;"  of  its  "  sweet-smelling  trees ;"  of  its 
"  strawberries,  blackberries,  prunes  and  wild  corn ;"  its 
"  figs,  apples  and  other  fruits,"  together  with  his  descrip- 
tion of  the  great  gulf  and  noble  river,  excited  in  France 
the  most  intense  interest. 

Immediately  plans  were  devised  to  colonize  the  coun- 
try. The  court  entered  into  the  scheme.  Some  of  the 
*  young  nobility  volunteered  to  become  colonists.  By  the 
following  May  the  arrangements  were  completed.  Cartier, 
"  who  was  very  religious,"  first  conducted  his  company  to 
the  cathedral,  where  they  received  the  bishop's  blessing, 
then  set  sail,  with  high  hopes  of  founding  a  State  in  what 
was  then  called  New  France. 

After  a  somewhat   stormy  passage,   he   reached  the 
northern  part  of  the  gulf,  on  the  day  of  St.  Lawrence  the    153& 
Martyr,  in  honor  of  whom  it  was  named — in  time,  the 
name  was  applied  to  river  also. 

The  strangers  were  received  hospitably  by  the  natives. 
Cartier  ascended  the  river  in  a  boat  to  an  island,  on  which 
was  the  principal  Indian  settlement.  It  was  in  the  mild 
and  pleasant  month  of  September.  He  ascended  a  hill,  at 
the  foot  of  which  lay  the  Indian  village;  he  was  enraptur- 
ed by  the  magnificent  scene  ;  the  river  before  him  evidently 
drained  a  vast  territory ;  the  natives  told  him  "  that  it 
went  so  far  to  the  west,  that  they  had  never  heard  of  any 
man  who  had  gone  to  the  head  of  it."  He  named  the  hill 
Mont-Keal,  Koyal-Mount ;  a  name  since  transferred  to  the 
island,  and  to  the  city. 

This  country  was  in  the  same  latitude  with  France  ;  he 
thought  its  climate  must  be  equally  mild,  its  soil  equally 
fertile  ;  and  that  it  might  become  the  home  of  a  happy  and 
industrious  people,  and  this  beautiful  island  the  centre  of 


0&  HISTORY   OF  THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

CHAi*.    an  almost  unbounded  commerce.     He  did  not  know  that 

1_  God  had  sent  the  warm  waters  of  the  south  through  the 

1535.  Gulf  Stream  to  the  west  of  Europe ;  that  they  warmed 
the  bleak  west  winds,  and  made  the  delightful  climate  of 
his  native  France  different  from  that  in  the  same  latitude 
in  North  America.1 

A  rigorous  winter  dissipated  his  visions.  His  honest 
narrative  of  the  voyage,  and  of  the  intense  coldness  of  the 
climate,  deterred  his  countrymen  from  making  further 
attempts  to  colonize  the  country.  There  was  no  gold  nor 
silver  to  be  found — no  mines  of  precious  stones.  What 
inducement  was  there  for  them  to  leave  their  fertile  and 
beautiful  France,  with  its  mild  and  healthful  climate,  to 
shiver  on  the  banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence  ? 
1640.  Thus  it  remained  for  four  years.    Among  many  who 

thought  it  unworthy  a  great  nation  not  to  found  a  State 
on  the  shores  of  the  magnificent  gulf  and  river  of  the  New 
World,  was  a  nobleman  of  Picardy,  Francis  de  la  Roque, 
lord  of  Roberval.  He  obtained  a  commission  from  Fran- 
cis I.  to  plant  a  colony,  with  full  legal  authority  as  viceroy 
over  the  territories  and  regions  on  or  near  the  Gulf  and 
River  of  St.  Lawrence.  These  were  to  be  known  in  his- 
tory under  the  ambitious  name  of  Norimbega. 

Cartier  was  induced  by  Roberval  to  receive  a  commission 
as  chief  pilot  of  the  expedition.     They  did  not  act  in  con- 
cert; both  were  tenacious  of  honor  and  authority,  and  they 
were  jealous  of  each  other. 
1540.  Cartier  sailed  the  following  spring,  passed  up  the  river, 

and  built  a  fort  near  where  Quebec  now  stands.  To  estab- 
lish a  prosperous  colony,  virtue,  industry,  and  perseverance 
must  be  found  in  the  colonists.    The  first  enterprise,  com- 

1  "The  quantity  of  heat  discharged  over  the  Atlantic  from  the  watert 
of  the  Gulf  Stream  in  a  winter's  day,  would  be  sufficient  to  raise  the  whole 
column  of  atmosphere  that  rests  upon  France  and  the  British  Isles,  fr  »m  the 
freezing  point  to  summer  heat." 

Maury1 s  Physical  Geography  of  the  Sea,  p.  61. 


ATTEMPTS    AT    SETTLEMENT.  53 

posed  of  young  noblemen  and  amateur  colonists,  failed,  as  chap 

might  have  been  expected.     In  the  second  attempt  they  1 

went  to  the  other  extreme, — the  colonists  were  criminals,    154*. 
drawn  from  the  prisons  of  France. 

.  During  the  winter  Cartier  hung  one  of  them  for  theft ; 
put  some  in  irons  ;  and  whipped  others,  men  and  women, 
for  minor  faults.  In  the  spring,  just  as  Koberval  himself 
arrived  with  a  reinforcement,  he  slipped  off  to  France, 
heartily  disgusted  with  his  winter's  occupation.  Koberval 
remained  about  a  year,  and  then  returned  home,  perfectly 
willing  to  resign  the  viceroyalty  of  Norimbega,  and  retire 
to  his  estates  in  Picardy.  After  a  lapse  of  fifty  years,  a 
successful  attempt  was  made  by  the  French  to  coloniae  the 
same  territory. 


CHAPTER   Y. 

DE  SOTO  AND  THE  MISSISSIPPI. 

chap.  The  name  Florida  was  given  by  the   Spaniards  to  the 

entire  southern  portion  of  the  United  States.     Their  at- 

1539.  tempts  to  conquer  this  territory  had  hitherto  failed.  For 
some  unexplained  reason,  the  most  exaggerated  stories 
were  told  of  the  richness  of  the  country  ;  there  was  no  evi- 
dence of  their  truth,  yet  they  were  implicitly  believed. 

The  success  of  Cortez  in  conquering  Mexico,  and  of 
Pizarro  in  conquering  Peru,  excited  the  emulation  of 
Ferdinand  de  Soto.  He  had  been  a  companion  of  Pizarro  ; 
had  gained  honor  by  his  valor,  and,  in  accordance  with  the 
morals  of  the  times,  had  accumulated  an  immense  amount 
of  wealth  by  various  means  of  extortion.  Still  it  must  be 
said  in  his  favor,  that  he  was,  by  far,  the  most  humane  of 
any  of  the  Spanish  officers  who  pillaged  Mexico  and 
Peru.  Foreseeing  the  endless  quarrels  and  jealousies  of 
the  Spaniards  in  Peru,  he  prudently  retired  to  Spain  with 
his  ill-gotten  gains. 

Ambition  did  not  permit  him  to  remain  long  in  retire- 
ment. He  panted  for  a  name,  for  military  glory,  to  sur- 
pass the  two  conquerors  of  the  New  World.  He  asked 
permission  to  conquer  Florida^  at  his  own  expense.  The 
request  was  graciously  granted  by  the  Emperor,  Charles  Y. 
He  also  received  an  honor  much  more  grateful  to  his  am- 
bition ;  he  was  appointed  Governor  of  Cuba,  and  of  all  the 
countries  he  should  conquer. 


THE    LANDING    AT    TAMPA    BAT.  55 

The  announcement  that  he  was  about  to  embark  on  chap. 

v. 
this  enterprise,  excited  in  Spain  the  highest  hopes, — hopes   

of  military  glory  and  of  unbounded  wealth.  Enthusiastic  1589 
men  said  these  hopes  must  be  realized  ;  there  were  cities 
in  the  interior  of  Florida  as  rich,  if  not  richer  than  those 
of  Mexico  or  Peru  ;  temples  equally  splendid,  to  be  plun- 
dered of  their  golden  ornaments.  Volunteers  offered  in 
crowds,  many  of  noble  birth,  and  all  proud  to  be  led  by  so 
renowned  a  chief.  From  these  numerous  applicants  De 
Soto  chose  six  hundred  men,  in  "  the  bloom  of  life."  The 
enthusiasm  was  so  great,  that  it  appeared  more  like  a 
holiday  excursion  than  a  military  expedition. 

He  sailed  for  Cuba,  where  he  was  received  with  great 
distinction.  Leaving  his  wife  to  govern  the  island,  he 
sailed  for  Florida,  and  landed  at  Espiritu  Santo,  now  Tampa 
bay.  He  never  harbored  the  thought  that  his  enterprise 
could  fail.  He  sent  his  ships  back  to  Cuba  ;  thus,  in  imi- 
tation of  Cortez,  he  deprived  his  followers  of  the  means  to 
return.  Volunteers  in  Cuba  had  increased  his  army  to 
nearly  one  thousand  men,  of  whom  three  hundred  were 
horsemen,  all  well  armed.  Every  thing  was  provided  that 
De  Soto's  foresight  and  experience  could  suggest ;  ample 
stores  of  provisions,  and  for  future  supplies,  a  drove  of 
swine,  for  which  Indian  corn  and  the  fruits  of  the  forest 
would  furnish  an  abundance  of  food.  The  company  was 
provided  with  cards,  that  they  might  spend  their  "  leisure 
time  in  gaming  ;"  a  dozen  of  priests,  that  the  *'  festivals  of 
the  church  might  be  kept,"  and  her  ceremonies  rigidly  per- 
formed ;  chains  for  the  captive  Indians,  and  bloodhounds, 
to  track  and  tear  them  in  pieces,  should  they  attempt  to 
escape  ; — incongruities  of  which  the  adventurers  seemed 
unconscious. 

They  now  commenced  their  march  through  pathless 
forests.  The  Indian  guides,  who  had  been  kidnapped  on 
former  invasions,  soon  learned  that  they  were  in  search  of 
gold.     Anxious  to  lead  them  as  far  as  possible  from  the 


56  HISTORY   OE  THE  AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

neighborhood  of  their  own  tribes,  they  humored  their  fan- 
cies, and  told  them  of  regions  far  away,  where  the  precious 
1540.  metal  was  abundant.  In  one  instance  they  pointed  to  the 
north-east,  where  they  said  the  people  understood  the  art 
of  refining  it,  and  sent  them  away  over  the  rivers  and 
plains  of  Georgia.  It  is  possible  they  may  have  referred 
to  the  gold  region  of  North  Carolina. 

When  one  of  the  guides  honestly  confessed  that  he 
knew  of  no  such  country,  De  Soto  ordered  him  to  be  burned 
for  telling  an  untruth.  From  this  time  onward  the 
guides  continued  to  allure  the  Spaniards  on  in  search  of 
a  golden  region, — a  region  they  were  ever  approaching,  but 
never  reached. 

At  length  the  men  grew  weary  of  wandering  through 
forests  and  swamps  ;  they  looked  for  cities,  rich  and 
splendid,  they  found  only  Indian  towns,  small  and  poor, 
whose  finest  buildings  were  wigwams.  They  wished  to 
return  ;  but  De  Soto  was  determined  to  proceed,  and  his 
faithful  followers  submitted.  They  pillaged  the  Indians 
of  their  provisions,  thus  rendered  them  hostile,  and  many 
conflicts  ensued.  They  treated  their  captives  with  great 
barbarity  ;  wantonly  cut  off  their  hands,  burned  them  at 
the  stake,  suffered  them  to  be  torn  in  pieces  by  the  blood- 
hounds, or  chained  them  together  with  iron  collars,  and 
compelled  them  to  carry  their  baggage. 

They  moved  toward  the  south-west,  and  came  into  the 
neighborhood  of  a  large  walled  town,  named  Mavilla,  since 
Mobile.  It  was  a  rude  town,  but  it  afforded  a  better  shel- 
ter than  the  forests  and  the  open  plains,  and  they  wished 
to  occupy  it.  The  Indians  resisted,  and  a  tierce  battle 
ensued.  The  Spanish  cavalry  gained  a  victory, — a  victory 
dearly  bought ;  the  town  was  burned,  and  with  it  nearly 
all  their  baggage. 

Meantime,  according  to  appointment,  ships  from  Cuba 
had  arrived  at  Pensacola.  De  Soto  would  not  confess  thai 
he  had  thus  far  failed  ;  he  would  send  no  news  until  he 


DISCOVERY    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI*  57 

Had  rivalled  Cortez  in  military  renown.    They  now  diiected  chap. 

their  course  to  the  north-west,  and  spent  the  following  win-   1_ 

ter  in  the  northern  part  of  the  State  of  Mississippi.  From  1540. 
the  Indian  corn  in  the  fields  they  obtained  food,  and  made 
their  winter  quarters  in  a  deserted  town.  When  spring 
returned,  a  demand  was  made  of  the  Chickasaw  chief  to 
furnish  men  to  carry  their  baggage.  The  indignant  chief 
refused.  The  hostile  Indians  deceived  the  sentinels,  and 
in  the  night  set  fire  to  the  village  and  attacked  the  Span- 
iards, but  after  a  severe  contest  they  were  repulsed.  It 
was  another  dear  victory  to  the  invaders ;  the  little 
they  had  saved  from  the  flames  at  Mobile  was  now  con- 
sumed. This  company,  once  so  "  brilliant  in  silks  and 
glittering  armor,"  were  now  scantily  clothed  in  skins,  and 
mats  made  of  ivy. 

Again  they  commenced  their  weary  wanderings,  and 
before  many  days  found  themselves  on  the  banks  of  the 
Mississippi.  De  Soto  expressed  no  feelings  of  pleasure  or 
of  admiration  at  the  discovery  of  the  magnificent  river, 
with  its  ever-flowing  stream  of  turbid  waters.  Ambition 
and  avarice  consume  the  finer  feelings  of  the  soul ;  they 
destroy  the  appreciation  of  what  is  noble  in  man  and 
beautiful  in  nature.  De  Soto  was  only  anxious  to  cross 
the  river,  and  press  on  in  search  of  cities  and  of  gold.  A  1541 
month  elapsed  before  boats  could  be  built  to  transport  the 
horses.  At  length  they  were  ready,  and  white  men,  for 
the  first  time,  launched  forth  upon  the  Father  of  Waters. 

The  natives  on  the  west  bank  received  the  strangers 
kindly,  and  gave  them  presents.  The  Indians  of  southern 
Missouri  supposed  them  to  be  superior  beings — children  of. 
the  sun — and  they  brought  them  their  blind  to  be  restored 
to  sight.  De  Soto  answered  them,  "  The  Lord  made  the 
heavens  and  the  earth  :  pray  to  Him  only  for  whatsoevei 
ye  need."  Here  they  remained  forty  days  ;  sent  out  ex- 
plorers further  north,  who  reported  that  buffaloes  were  so 
numerous  in  that  region  that  corn  could  not  be  raised ; 


53  HISTOEY  OE  THE  AMEKICAN   PEOPLE. 

chap,  that   the   inhabitants   were  few,  and   lived  by  hunting 
*      They  wandered  two  hundred  miles  further  west ;   then 

1541.  turned  to  the  south,  and  went  nearly  as  far,  among  In* 
dians  who  were  an  agricultural  people,  living  in  villages, 
and  subsisting  upon  the  produce  of  the  soil. 

In  this  region  another  winter  was  passed.  It  was  now 
almost  three  years  since  De  Soto  had  landed  at  Tampa 
bay.    With  all  his  toil  and  suffering,  he  had  accomplished 

1542.  nothing.  In  the  spring,  he  descended  the  Wachita  to 
the  Ked  river,  and  thence  once  more  to  the  Mississippi. 
There  he  learned  that  the  country,  extending  to  the  sea, 
was  a  waste  of  swamps,  where  no  man  dwelK 

His  cup  of  disappointment  was  full ;  his  pride,  which 
had  hitherto  sustained  him,  must  confess  that  his  enter- 
prise had  been  a  failure.  He  had  set  out  with  highei 
hopes  than  any  Spanish  conqueror  of  the  New  World ; 
now  his  faithful  band  was  wasted  by  disease  and  death. 
He  was  far  from  aid  ;  a  deep  gloom  settled  upon  his  spirit ; 
his  soul  was  agitated  by  a  conflict  of  emotions  ;  a  violent 
fever  was  induced ;  and  when  sinking  rapidly,  he  called 
his  followers  around  him,  they,  faithful  to  the  last,  im- 
plored him  to  appoint  a  successor  :  he  did  so.  The  next 
day  De  Soto  was  no  more.  His  soldiers  mourned  for  him  ; 
the  priests  performed  his  funeral  rites  ;  with  sad  hearts 
they  wrapped  his  body  in  a  mantle,  and,  at  the  silent  hour 
of  midnight,  sunk  it  beneath  the  waters  of  the  Mississippi. 
His  followers  again  wandered  for  awhile,  in  hopes  of 
getting  to  Mexico.  Finally  they  halted  upon  the  banks  of 
the  Mississippi ;  erected  a  forge  ;  struck  the  fetters  off 
their  Indian  captives,  and  made  the  iron  into  nails  to  build 
boats  ;  killed  their  horses  and  swine,  and  dried  their  flesh 
for  ^provisions.  When  the  boats  were  finished  they 
launched  them  upon  the  river,  and  floated  down  iti 
stream  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 
1672.  After  the  lapse  of  one  hundred  and  thirty  years,  the  Mis- 
sissippi was  again  visited  by  white  men  of  another  nation 


CHAPTEB    VI. 

THE  REFORMATION  AND  ITS  EFFECTS. 

From  this  period  we  find  interwoven  with  the  early  his-  cha? 
tory  of  our  country  a  class  of  persons  who  were  not  mere  ^ 
adventurers,  seekers  after  gold  or  fame — but  who  sought  151y 
here  a  home,  where  they  might  enjoy  civil  and  religious 
liberty,  and  who  held  the  principles  of  which  we  see  the 
result  in  the  institutions  of  the  United  States,  so  different 
in  some  respects  from  those  of  any  other  nation.  This  differ- 
ence did  not  spring  from  chance,  but  was  the  legitimate  ef- 
fect of  certain  influences.  What  has  made  this  younger 
member  of  the  great  family  of  governments  to  differ  so  much 
from  the  others  ?  What  were  the  principles,  what  the  in- 
fluences, which  produced  such  men  and  women  as  our 
revolutionary  ancestors  ?  The  world  has  never  seen  their 
equals  for  self-denying  patriotism  ;  for  enlightened  views 
of  government,  of  religious  liberty,  and  of  the  rights  of  con- 
science. 

When  great  changes  are  to  be  introduced  among  the 
nations  of  the  earth,  God  orders  the  means  to  accomplish 
them,  as  well  as  the  end  to  be  attained.  He  trains  the 
people  for  the  change.  He  not  only  prepared  the  way  for 
the  discovery  of  this  continent,  but  for  its  colonization  by 
a  Christian  people.  Fifty  years  before  the  first  voyage  of 
Columbus,  the  art  of  printing  was  invented — and  twenty- 
five  years  after  the  same  voyage,  commenced  the  Keforma- 
tion  in  Germany  under  Martin  Luther.  The  art  of  print- 
ing, by  multiplying  booka,  became  the  means  of  diffusing 


60  HISTOKY   OF  THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

chap,   knowledge  among  men,  and  of  awakening  the  human  mind 

from  the  sleep  of  ages.     One  of  the  consequences  of  this 

1517.  awakening,  was  the  Keformation.  The  simple  truths  01 
the  Gospel  had  been  obscured  by  the  teachings  of  men. 
The  decrees  of  the  church  had  drawn  a  veil  between  the 
throne  of  God  and  the  human  soul.  The  priesthood  had 
denied  to  the  people  the  right  of  studying  for  themselves 
the  word  of  God.  The  views  of  the  Reformers  were  the 
reverse  of  this.  They  believed  that  God,  as  Lord  of  the 
conscience,  had  given  a  revelation  of  his  will  to  man,  and 
that  it  was  the  inherent  right  and  privilege  of  every  human 
being  to  study  that  will,  each  one  for  himself.  They  did 
not  stop  here  :  they  were  diligent  seekers  for  truth  ;  the 
advocates  of  education  and  of  free  inquiry.  Throwing 
aside  the  traditions  of  men,  they  went  directly  to  the 
Bible,  and  taught  all  men  to  do  the  same. 

On  the  continent,  the  Reformation  began  among  the 
learned  men  of  the  universities,  and  gradually  extended  to 
the  uneducated  people.  In  England,  the  common  people 
were  reading  the  Bible  in  their  own  language,  long  before 
it  was  the  privilege  of  any  nation  on  the  continent.*  Thus 
the  English  were  prepared  to  enter  into  the  spirit  of  the 
Reformation  under  Luther.  Soon  persecutions  of  the  Re- 
formers arose  ;  with  civil  commotions  and  oppressions 
involving  all  Europe  in  war.  These  troubles  drove  the 
Huguenot  from  France  and  the  Puritan  from  England,  to 
seek  homes  in  the  wilderness  of  the  New  World. 

From  the  Bible  they  learned  their  high  and  holy  prin- 
ciples ;  fiery  trials  taught  them  endurance.  They  brought 
with  them  to  our  shores  the  spirit  of  the  Reformation,  the 
recognition  of  civil  rights  and  religious  liberty.  These 
principles  have  been  transmitted  to  us  in  our  national 
institutions  and  form  of  government. 

*  D'Aubigne'g  Hist,  of  the  Reformation,  Vol.  V. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

THE  HUGUENOTS  IN  THE  SOUTH. 

their  settlement  destroyed. — The  Colony  of  St.  Augustine. — De  Gourgw. 
Settlements  in  New  France. — Champlain  and  his  Success. 

While  these  contests  were  going  on  in  Europe  between   chap 

the  friends  of  religious  liberty  and  the  Roman  Catholics,   

Coligny,  the  high-admiral  of  France,  a  devoted  Protestant,  1562 
conceived  the  idea  of  founding  a  colony  in  the  New  World, 
to  which  his  persecuted  countrymen  might  flee,  and  enjoy 
that  which  was  denied  them  in  their  native  land  ;  the 
inestimable  privilege  of  worshipping  God  according  to  the 
dictates  of  their  own  conscience,  enlightened  by  his  holy 
word. 

The  French  government  took  no  interest  in  the  matter. 
Those  influences  were  then  at  work,  which  a  few  years  1572 
later  produced  their  dire  effect  in  the  massacre  of  St.  Bar- 
tholomew. Coligny,  however,  easily  obtained  a  commission 
from  Charles  IX.  Preparations  were  soon  made,  and  the 
expedition  sailed  under  the  direction  of  John  Ribault,  a 
worthy  man,  and  a  sincere  Protestant. 

They  knew  the  character  of  the  country  and  of  the 
climate  in  the  latitude  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  they  wish- 
ed to  find  a  region  more  fertile  and  a  climate  more  genial. 
They  made  land  in  the  vicinity  of  St.  Augustine,  Florida; 
then  continued  further  north  along  the  coast,  and  landed 
at  Port  Koyal  entrance.  They  were  delighted  with  the  May 
country,  its  fine  climate,  its  magnificent  forests,  fragrant 


62  HISTORY   OF  THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

CyjrP'   w*tn  ^^  flowers  ;  but  above  all  with  the  capacious  har 

bor,  which  was  capable  of  floating  the  largest  ships.    Here 

15fi2.  it  was  determined  to  make  a  settlement :  a  fort  was  built 
on  an  island  in  the  harbor,  and  in  honor  of  their  sovereign 
called  Carolina.  Leaving  twenty-five  men  to  keep  pos- 
session of  the  country,  Eibault  departed  for  France,  with 
the  intention  of  returning  the  next  year  with  supplies  and 
nlore  emigrants.  He  found  France  in  confusion  ;  civil 
war  was  raging  with  all  its  attendant  horrors.  In  vain  the 
colonists  looked  for  reinforcements  and  supplies — none 
ever  came.  Disheartened,  they  resolved  to  return  home  ; 
they  hastily  built  a  brigantine,  and  with  an  insufficiency  of 
provisions,  set  sail.  They  came  near  perishing  at  sea  by 
famine,  but  were  providentially  rescued  by  an  English  bark. 
Part  of  these  colonists  wei?  taken  to  France,  and  part  to 
England, — there  they  told  of  the  fine  climate  and  the  rich 
soil  of  the  country  they  had  attempted  to  colonize.  We 
shall  yet  see  the  effect  of  this  information  in  directing 
English  enterprise. 

Two  years  after,  there  was  a  treacherous  lull  in  the 
storm  of  civil  discord  in  France  ;  Coligny  again  attempted 
to  found  a  colony.  The  care  of  this  expedition  was  intrust- 
ed to  Laudoniere,  a  man  of  uprightness  and  intelligence, 
who  had  been  on  the  former  voyage.  The  healthfulness  of 
the  climate  of  Florida  was  represented  to  be  wonderful : 
it  was  believed,  that  under  its  genial  influence,  human  life 
was  extended  more  than  one-half,  while  the  stories  of  the 
wealth  of  the  interior  still  found  credence.  Unfortunately 
proper  care  was  not  exercised  in  selecting  the  colonists 
from  the  numerous  volunteers  who  offered.  Some  were 
chosen  who  were  not  worthy  to  be  members  of  a  colony 
based  on  religious  principles,  and  founded  for  noble  pur- 


They  reached  the  coast  of  Florida,  avoided  Port  Koyal, 

1564     the  scene  of  former  misery,  and  found  a  suitable  location 

for  a  settlement  on  the  banks  of  the  river  May,  now  called 


FORT    CAROLINA.  63 

the  St.  Johns.     They  offered  songs  of  thanksgiving  to  God   chap. 

for  his  guiding  care,  and  trusted  to  his  promises  for  the   

future.  They  built  another  fort,  which  like  the  first  they  1564, 
called  Carolina.  The  true  character  of  some  of  the  colo-  June 
nists  soon  began  to  appear, — these  had  joined  the  enter- 
prise with  no  higher  motive  than  gain.  They  were  muti- 
nous, idle,  and  dissolute,  wasting  the  provisions  of  the  com- 
pany. They  robbed  the  Indians,  who  became  hostile,  and 
refused  to  furnish  the  colony  with  provisions. 

Under  the  pretext  of  avoiding  famine,  these  fellows  of 
the  baser  sort  asked  permission  of  Laudoniere  to  go  to  New 
Spain.  He  granted  it,  thinking  it  a  happy  riddance  for 
himself  and  the  colony.  They  embarked,  only  to  become 
pirates.  The  Spaniards,  whom  they  attacked,  took  their 
vessel  and  made  most  of  them  slaves  ;  the  remainder  es- 
caped in  a  boat.  They  knew  of  no  safer  place  than  Fort 
Carolina.  When  they  returned  Laudoniere  had  them 
arrested  for  piracy  ;  they  were  tried,  and  the  ringleaders 
condemned  and  executed  ; — a  sufficient  evidence  that 
their  conduct  was  detested  by  the  better  portion  of  the 
colonists. 

Famine  now  came  pressing  on.  Month  after  month 
passed  away,  and  still  there  came  no  tidings — no  supplies 
from  home.  Just  at  this  time  arrived  Sir  John  Hawkins 
from  the  West  Indies,  where  he  had  disposed  of  a  cargo  of 
negroes  as  slaves.  He  was  the  first  Englishman,  it  is 
said,  who  had  engaged  in  that  unrighteous  traffic.  Though 
hard-hearted  toward  the  wretched  Africans,  he  manifested 
much  sympathy  for  the  famishing  colonists  ;  supplied  them 
with  provisions,  and  gave  them  one  of  his  ships.  They 
continued  their  preparations  to  leave  for  home,  when  sud- 
denly the  cry  was  raised  that  ships  were  coming  into  the  An*. 
harbor.  It  was  Ribault  returning  with  supplies  and  fami- 
lies of  emigrants.  He  was  provided  with  domestic  ani- 
mals, seeds  and  implements  for  cultivating  the  soil.  The 
scene  was  now  changed  ;   all  were  willing  to  remain,  and 


64  HISTOKY  OF  THE  AMEEICAK   PEOPLE. 

CvnP'  fc^e  k°Pe  °^  f°un(^no  a  French  Protestant  State  in  tha 
New  World  was  revived. 


1564.  Philip  II.,  the  cruel  and  bigoted  King  of  Spain,  heard 

that  the  French — French  Protestants — had  presumed  to 
make  a  settlement  in  Florida  !  Immediately  plans  were  laid 
to  exterminate  the  heretics.  The  king  found  a  fit  instru- 
ment for  the  purpose  in  Pedro  Melendez  ;  a  man  familiar 
with  scenes  of  carnage  and  cruelty,  whose  life  was  stained 
with  almost  every  crime.  The  king  knew  his  desperate 
character  ;  gave  him  permission  to  conquer  Florida  at  his 
own  expense,  and  appointed  him  its  governor  for  life,  with 
the  right  to  name  his  successor.  His  colony  was  to  consist 
of  not  less  than  five  hundred  persons,  one  hundred  of  whom 
should  be  married  men.  He  was  also  to  introduce  the 
sugar-cane,  and  five  hundred  negro  slaves  to  cultivate  it. 
The  expedition  was  soon  under  way.  Melendez  first  saw  the 
land  on  the  day  consecrated  to  St.  Augustine  ;  some  days 
after,  sailing  along  the  coast,  he  discovered  a  fine  harbor 
and  river,  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of  that  saint.  From 
the  Indians  he  learned  where  the  Huguenots  had  estab- 
lished themselves.  They  were  much  surprised  at  the  ap- 
pearance of  a  fleet,  and  they  inquired  of  the  stranger  who 
he  was  and  why  he  came  ;  he  replied,  "  I  am  Melendez,  of 

tept  Spain,  sent  by  my  sovereign  with  strict  orders  to  behead 
and  gibbet  every  Protestant  in  these  regions  ;  the  Catholic 
shall  be  spared,  but  every  Protestant  shall  die  !"  The 
French  fleet,  unprepared  for  a  conflict,  put  to  sea ;  the 
Spaniards  pursued  but  did  not  overtake  it.  Melendez  then 
returned  to  St.  Augustine.  After  a  religious  festival  in 
honor  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  he  proceeded  to  mark  out  the 
boundaries  for  a  town.  St.  Augustine  is,  by  more  than 
forty  years,  the  oldest  town  in  the  United  States. 

His  determination  was  now  to  attack  the  Huguenots 
by  land,  and  carry  out  his  cruel  orders.  The  French  sup- 
posing the  Spaniards  would  come  by  sea,  set  sail  to  meet 
them.     Melendez  found  the  colonists  unprepared  and  de- 


THE    MASSACRE.  65 

fenceless  ;  their  men  were  nearly  all  on  board  the  fleet.    A  c*^p- 

short  contest  ensued  ;  the  French  were  overcome,  and  the  

fanatic  Spaniards  massacred  nearly  the  whole  number, —  1564. 
men,  women,  and  children  ;  they  spared  not  even  the  aged 
and  the  sick.  A  few  were  reserved  as  slaves,  and  a  few 
escaped  to  the  woods.  To  show  to  the  world  upon  what 
principles  he  acted,  Melendez  placed  over  the  dead  this 
inscription  : — "  I  do  not  this  as  unto  Frenchmen,  but  as 
unto  heretics."  Mass  was  celebrated,  and  on  the  ground 
still  reeking  with  the  blood  of  the  innocent  victims  of  re- 
ligious bigotry  and  fanaticism,  he  erected  a  cross  and 
marked  out  a  site  for  a  church — the  first  on  the  soil  of 
the  United  States. 

Among  those  who  escaped,  were  Laudoniere  and  Le 
Moyne,  an  artist,  sent  by  Coligny  to  make  drawings  of  the 
most  interesting  scenerv  of  the  country  ;  and  Challus,  who 
afterward  wrote  an  account  of  the  calamity.  When  they 
seemed  about  to  perish  in  the  forests  from  hunger,  they 
questioned  whether  they  should  appeal  to  the  mercy  of 
their  conquerors.  "  No,"  said  Challus,  "  let  us  trust  in 
the  mercy  of  God  rather  than  of  these  men."  After  en- 
during many  hardships,  they  succeeded  in  reaching  two 
small  French  vessels  which  had  remained  in  the  harbor, 
and  thus  escaped  to  France.  A  few  of  their  companions, 
who  threw  themselves  upon  the  mercy  of  the  Spaniards, 
were  instantly  murdered. 

While  these  scenes  of  carnage  were  in  progress,  a  ter- 
rible storm  wrecked  the  French  fleet ;  some  of  the  soldiers 
and  sailors  were  enabled  to  reach  the  shore,  but  in  a  des- 
titute condition.  These  poor  men  when  invited,  surren- 
dered themselves  to  the  promised  clemency  of  Melendez. 
They  were  taken  across  the  river  in  little  companies  ;  as 
they  landed  their  hands  were  tied  behind  them,  and  they 
driven  to  a  convenient  place,  where  at  a  given  signal  they 
were  all  murdered.  Altogether  nine  hundred  persons 
perished  by  shipwreck  and  violence.     It  is  the  office  of 


66 


HISTOBY   OF  THE  AMEEICAK   PEOPLE. 


chap,    history  to  record  the  deeds  of  the  past — the  evil  and  the 

'_  good ;  let  the  one  be  condemned  and  avoided,  the  othei 

1504.  commended  and  imitated.  May  we  not  hope  that  the  day 
of  fanatic  zeal  and  religious  persecution  has  passed  away 
forever  ? 

The  French  government  was  indifferent,  and  did  not 
avenge  the  wrongs  of  her  loyal  and  good  subjects  ;  but  the 
Huguenots,  and  the  generous  portion  of  the  nation,  were 
roused  to  a  high  state  of  indignation  at  such  wanton,  such 
unheard-of  cruelty.  This  feeling  found  a  representative 
in  Dominic  de  Gourges,  a  native  of  Gascony.  He  fitted 
out,  at  his  own  expense,  three  ships,  and  with  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  men  sailed  for  Florida.  He  suddenly  came 
upon  the  Spaniards  and  completely  overpowered  them. 
1568.  Near  the  scene  of  their  former  cruelty  he  hanged  about 
two  hundred  on  the  trees  ;  placing  over  them  the  inscrip- 
tion, "I  do  not  this  as  unto  Spaniards  and  mariners,  but 
as  unto  traitors,  robbers,  and  murderers  V  Gourges  im- 
mediately returned  to  France,  when  the  u  Most  Christian' 
king  set  a  price  upon  his  head  ;  and  he  who  had  exposed 
his  life,  and  sacrificed  his  fortune  to  avenge  the  insult 
offered  to  his  country,  was  obliged  to  conceal  himself  to 
escape  the  gallows.  Thus  perished  the  attempt  of  the 
noble  Coligny  and  the  Huguenots  to  found  a  French  Prot- 
estant State  in  the  New  World. 

After  the  unsuccessful  expeditions  of  Cartier  and  Bo- 
berval,  French  fishermen,  in  great  numbers,  continued  to 
visit  the  waters  around  Newfoundland.  As  the  govern- 
ment had  relinquished  its  claim  to  Florida,  the  idea  was 
once  more  revived  of  colonizing  on  the  shores  of  the  St. 
Lawrence. 
1557  The  Marquis  de  la  Koche  obtained  a  commission  for  this 

purpose.  His  colonists,  like  those  of  Koberval,  were  crimi- 
nals taken  from  the  prisons  of  France  :  like  his,  this  enter- 
prise proved  an  utter  failure.     The  efforts  of  some  mer- 


PORT   ROYAL    SETTLEMENT.  67 

chants,  who  obtained  by  patent  a  monopoly  of  the  fur-   c^p 

trade,  also  failed.  

At  length,  a  company  of  merchants  of  Rouen  engaged  1603. 
in  the  enterprise  with  more  success.  That  success  may  be 
safely  attributed  to  Samuel  Cham  plain,  a  man  of  compre- 
hensive mind,  of  great  energy  o*  character,  cautious  in  all 
nis  plans  ;  a  keen  observer  of  the  habits  of  the  Indians, 
and  an  unwearied  explorer  of  the  country. 

In  the  latter  part  of  this  same  year,  a  patent,  exclu- 
sive in  its  character,  was  given  to  a  Protestant,  the  excel- 
lent and  patriotic  Sieur  De  Monts.  The  patent  conferred 
on  him  the  sovereignty  of  the  country  called  Acadie — a 
territory  extending  from  Philadelphia  on  the  south,  to  be- 
yond Montreal  on  the  north,  and  to  the  west  indefinitely. 
It  granted  him  a  monopoly  of  the  fur-trade  and  other 
branches  of  commerce ;  and  freedom  in  religion  to  the 
Huguenots  who  should  become  colonists.  It  was  enjoined 
upon  all  idlers,  and  men  of  no  profession,  and  banished 
persons  to  aid  in  founding  the  colony. 

The  expedition  was  soon  under  way  in  two  ships.  In 
due  time  they  entered  a  spacious  harbor  on  the  western 
part  of  Nova  Scotia,  which  they  named  Port  Royal,  since 
Annapolis.  The  waters  abounded  in  fish,  and  the  coun- 
try was  fertile  and  level — advantages  that  induced  some  of 
the  emigrants  to  form  a  settlement.  Others  went  to  an 
island  at  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Croix,  but  the  next  spring  607 
they  removed  to  Port  Royal.  This  was  the  first  perma- 
nent French  settlement  in  the  New  World;  and  these 
were  the  ancestors  of  those  unfortunate  Acadiens  whose 
fate,  nearly  a  century  and  a  half  later,  forms  a  melancholy 
episode  in  American  history. 

Among  the  influences  exerted  upon  the  Indians  was 
that  of  the  Jesuits,  who,  a  few  years  afterward,  were  sent 
as  missionaries  to  the  tribes  between  the  Penobscot  and 
the  Kennebec  in  Maine.  These  tribes  became  the  allies 
of  the  French,  and  remained  so  during  all  their  contests 


UNIVERsi-rY 


68 


HISTORY   OE  THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 


Cyii1    wit^  t^ie  ^ngl*sn-     De  Monts  explored  the  coast  and  riven 
of  New  England  as  far  south  as  Cape  Cod,  intending 

1608.  somewhere  in  that  region  to  make  a  settlement ;  but  disas- 
ter followed  disaster,  till  the  project  was  finally  abandoned. 

Meantime,  Champlain,  whose  ambition  was  to  estab- 
lish a  State,  had  founded  Quebec,  that  is,  it  was  the 
centre  of  a  few  cultivated  fields  and  gardens.  Huguenots 
were  among  the  settlers  ;  they  had  taken  an  active  part  in 
the  enterprise  ;  but  there  were  also  others  who  were  of  the 
Catholic  faith.  Soon  religious  disputes  as  well  as  commer- 
cial jealousies  arose,  which  retarded  the  progress  of  the 
colony.  Champlain,  the  soul  of  the  enterprise,  was  not 
idle  ;  he  made  many  exploring  expeditions,  and  discovered 

1609.  *ne  beautiful  lake  which  bears  his  name.  In  spite  of  the 
quarrels  between  the  Jesuits  and  the  Huguenots,  and  the 
restlessness  of  the  Indians  and  disappointments  of  various 
kinds,  the  persevering  Champlain  succeeded  in  establish- 

1684.  ing  a  French  colony  on  the  banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence. 
For  one  hundred  and  twenty  years  it  remained  under  the 
dominion  of  his  native  France,  and  then  passed  into  the 
hands  of  her  great  rival. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

ENGLISH   ENTERPRISE. 

Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert. — The  Fisheries. — St.  Johns,  Newfoundland. — Sir 
Walter  Raleigh. — Exploring  Expedition. — Virginia;  failures  to  colo- 
nize.— Contest  with  Spain. — Death  of  Sir  Walter. 


CHAP 
VIIL 


England  never  relinquished  her  claims  to  North  Amer- 
ica ;  they  were  based  upon  the  discovery  and  explorations  1560. 
of  Sebastian  Cabot.  According  to  the  received  rules  of 
the  times,  she  was  right,  as  he  was  undoubtedly  the  1497. 
first  discoverer.  For  many  reasons,  she  was  not  pre- 
pared to  avail  herself  of  these  claims,  till  nearly  ninety 
years  after  that  discovery.  This  time  was  not  passed  by 
the  English  sailors  in  maritime  idleness.  During  the  reign 
of  Henry  VIIL,  intercourse  was  kept  up  with  the  fisheries 
of  Newfoundland,  that  school  of  English  seamen,  in  which 
were  trained  the  men  who  gave  to  that  nation  the  suprem- 
acy of  the  ocean, — the  element  upon  which  the  military 
glory  of  England  was  to  be  achieved.  The  king  cherished 
his  navy,  and  took  commerce  under  his  special  protection. 
The  reign  of  Mary,  of  bloody  memory,  saw  the  strug- 
gle commence  between  England  and  Spain  for  the  suprem- 
acy on  the  ocean.  She  married  Philip  II.,  the  most 
powerful  monarch  of  the  age :  he  designed  to  subject  the 
English  nation  to  himself,  and  its  religion  to  the  church  of 
Rome.  When  this  became  known,  the  Protestant  spirit 
rose  in  opposition.     This  spirit  pervaded  the  entire  people ; 


1549 


HISTOKY   OF  THE   AMEEICAN   PEOPLE. 

chap,   they  exerted  their  energies  to  the  utmost.    Instead  of  sub- 

mitting  to  the  dictation  of  Spain,  England  boldly  assumed 

157C  the  position  of  an  antagonist.  There  was  a  marked  con- 
trast between  the  two  nations.  The  navy  of  the  one  was 
immense,  that  of  the  other  was  small,  but  brave  and  effi- 
cient :  the  one  drew  her  wealth  from  mines  of  gold  and 
silver  in  the  New  World — the  other  obtained  hers  by  the 
slow  process  of  industry  and  economy.  The  one  became 
proud  and  indolent,  luxurious  and  imbecile — the  other 
may  have  become  proud,  but  certainly  not  indolent ;  luxu- 
rious, but  certainly  not  imbecile. 

On  her  accession,  Queen  Elizabeth  pursued  the  policy 
of  her  father  Henry  VIII.,  towards  her  navy  and  com- 
From  merce.  While  some  of  her  subjects  were  trading  by  land 
with  the  east,  others  were  on  the  ocean  cruising  against 
the  Spaniards  :  some  were  prosecuting  the  fisheries  around 
Newfoundland  and  in  the  seas  northwest  of  Europe  ;  some 
were  exploring  the  western  coast  of  America,  and  the  east- 
ern coast  of  Asia  :  others  were  groping  their  way  among 
the  islands  of  the  extreme  north,  in  a  vain  search  for  the 
north-west  passage. 

Explorers  were  still  haunted  with  the  idea  that  mines 
of  exhaustless  wealth  were  yet  to  be  found  in  the  New 
World.  Great  was  the  exultation  when  a  "  mineral-man" 
of  London  declared  that  a  stone  brought  by  an  English 
sailor  from  the  Polar  regions,  contained  gold.  England 
was  to  find  in  the  region  of  eternal  snow  mines  of  the  pre- 
cious metal,  more  prolific  than  Spain  had  found  in  Mexico. 
Soon  fifteen  vessels  set  sail  for  this  northern  island,  where 
there  was  "  ore  enough  to  suffice  all  the  gold-gluttons  of 
the  world."  They  returned  laden,  not  with  golden  ore,  but 
1578.    with  worthless  yellow  stones. 

Meanwhile,  the  fisheries  around  Newfoundland  had  be- 
come a  certain,  though  a  slow  source  of  wealth.  Sir 
Humphrey  Gilbert,  a  gentleman  of  distinction  and  of.  up- 
right principles,  obtained  a  commission  from  the  Queen  *o 


jO 


SIR    WALTER    RALEIGH.  71 

plant  a  colony    in   the  vicinity  of  these  fisheries.      He   *&&? 
landed   at  St.   Johns,  Newfoundland,  and  there  in  the  , 

presence  of  the  fishermen  of  other  nations,  took  formal  Aug., 
possession  of  the  territory  in  the  name  of  his  sovereign.  He 
then  passed  further  south,  exploring  the  coast — but  losing 
his  largest  ship  with  all  on  board,  he  found  it  necessary  to 
sail  for  home.  Only  two  vessels  remained,  one  of  which, 
the  Squirrel,  was  a  mere  boat  of  ten  tons,  used  to  explore 
the  shallow  bays  and  inlets.  The  closing  acts  of  Sir  Hum 
phrey's  life  afford  proofs  of  his  piety  and  nobleness  of  char- 
acter. Unwilling  that  the  humblest  of  his  men  should 
risk  more  danger  than  himself,  he  chose  to  sail  in  the  boat 
rather  than  in  the  larger  and  safer  vessel.  A  terrible  storm 
arose  ;  he  sat  calmly  reading  a  book — doubtless  that  book 
from  which  he  drew  consolation  in  times  of  sorrow  and 
trial.  To  encourage  those  who  were  in  the  other  vessel,  he 
was  heard  to  cry  to  them,  "  we  are  as  near  to  heaven  on 
sea  as  on  land," — the  reality  of  this  cheering  thought  he  * 
was  soon  to  experience.  That  night,  those  on  the  larger 
vessel  saw  the  lights  of  the  little  boat  suddenly  disappear. 

The  next  attempt  at  colonization  was  made  by  Gilbert's  1584 
half-brother,  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  one  of  the  noblest  of  that 
age  of  noble  spirits  :  gallant  and  courteous  in  his  manners; 
a  scholar,  a  poet,  a  benefactor  of  his  race  ;  his  name  should 
ever  be  held  in  grateful  remembrance  by  the  people  of  this 
country.  He  studied  the  art  of  war  with  Coligny,  the  high 
admiral  of  France.  When  in  that  country,  he  determined 
to  plant  a  colony  in  those  delightful  regions  from  which  the 
Huguenots  had  been  driven  by  the  hand  of  violence.  He 
had  learned  from  them  of  the  charming  climate,  where 
winter  lingered  only  for  a  short  time, — where  the  magnifi- 
cent trees  and  fragrant  woods  bloomed  during  nearly  all 
the  year, — where  the  gushing  fountains,  noble  rivers,  and 
fertile  soil  invited  the  industrious  to  enjoy  the  fruits  of 
their  labor.  When  Sir  Walter  returned  home  from  France, 
he  found  the  people  prepared  to  enter  upon  schemes  of 


72  HISTOKY   OF  THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

°blap.   colonization  in  the  south.     They,  too,  had  heard  of  thost 

"  delightful  regions  "  from  the  Huguenots,  who  at  sea  had 

1584.  heen  rescued  from  death,  and  brought  to  England.  Ra- 
leigh  without  difficulty  obtained  a  commission,  granting 
him  ample  powers,  as  proprietor  of  the  territories  he  was 
about  to  colonize.  He  first  sent  an  exploring  expedition, 
consisting  of  two  ships,  under  Philip  Amidas  and  Arthur 
Barlow,  to  obtain  more  definite  information  of  the  country. 
They  sailed  the  usual  route,  by  the  Canaries  and  the  West 
Indies,  came  first  upon  the  coast  of  North  Carolina,  landed 
upon  one  of  the  islands  forming  Ocracock  inlet,  and  took 
formal  possession  of  the  country.  They  partially  explored 
Albemarle  and  Pamlico  sounds,  and  the  islands  and  coast 
in  the  vicinity,  and  then  sailed  for  home.  They  took  with 
them  two  of  the  natives,  Wanchese  and  Manteo  ;  the  lat- 
ter was  afterward  very  useful  to  the  colonists  as  an  inter- 
preter. Amidas  and  Barlow  on  their  return,  confirmed 
what  the  Huguenots  had  reported  of  the  excellence  of  the 
country.  They  saw  it  in  the  month  of  July.  They 
described  the  unruffled  ocean,  dotted  with  beautiful  islands; 
the  clearness  of  the  atmosphere  ;  the  luxuriant  forests 
vocal  with  the  songs  of  birds  ;  the  vines  draping  the  trees, 
and  the  grapes  hanging  in  clusters.  This  sunny  land,  in 
all  its  virgin  beauty,  appeared  to  these  natives  of  foggy 
England,  as  the  very  paradise  of  the  world.  Elizabeth, 
delighted  with  the  description,  named  the  country  Virginia, 
in  honor  of  herself,  as  she  took  pride  in  being  known  as  the 
Virgin  Queen. 
^FlQ>  It  was  not  difficult  now  to  obtain  colonists  ;  soon  a 
fleet  of  seven  vessels  was  equipped,  containing  one  hun- 
dred and  eight  persons,  who  intended  to  form  a  settle- 
ment. Sir  Richard  Grenville,  a  friend  of  Baleigh,  and  a 
man  of  eminence,  commanded  the  fleet,  and  Ralph  Lane 
was  appointed  governor  of  the  colony.  After  a  tedious 
voyage,  they  landed,  in  June,  fifteen  hundred  and  eighty- 
five,  on  an  island  called  Koanoke,  lying  between  Albemar 


1585. 


ROANOKE   ABANDONED. 

and  Pamlico  sounds.    Before  long  they  excited  the  enmity  chap 

of  the  Indians.     On  one  of  their  exploring  expeditions,  a  _ 

silver  cup  was  lost  or  stolen.  The  Indians  were. charged  June, 
with  the  theft ;  perhaps  they  were  innocent.  Because  it 
was  not  restored,  Grenville,  with  very  little  prudence  and 
less  justice,  set  fire  to  their  village  and  destroyed  their 
standing  corn.  Little  did  he  know  the  train  of  sorrow  and 
death  he  introduced  by  thus  harshly  treating  the  Indians 
and  making  them  enemies.  A  few  weeks  after  the  fleet 
sailed  for  England,  unlawfully  cruising  against  the  Span- 
ish on  the  voyage.  Governor  Lane  now  explored  the 
country,  noticed  the  various  productions  of  the  soil,  and 
the  general  character  of  the  inhabitants.  The  colonists 
found  many  strange  plants  ; — the  corn,  the  sweet  potato, 
the  tobacco  plant,  were  seen  by  them  for  the  first  time. 
Lane  was  unfit  for  his  station  ;  he  became  unreasonably 
suspicious  of  the  Indians.  With  professions  of  friendship, 
he  visited  a  prominent  chief,  and  was  hospitably  received 
and  entertained  ;  this  kindness  he  repaid  by  basely  mur- 
dering the  chief  and  his  followers.  Men  capable  of  such  153$ 
treachery  were  necessarily  unfit  to  found  a  Christian 
State.  Provisions  now  began  to  fail  and  the  colonists 
to  despond. 

Just  at  this  time  Sir  Francis  Drake,  on  his  way  home 
from  the  West  Indies,  called  to  visit  the  colony  of  his 
friend  Baleigh.  Though  they  had  been  but  a  year  in  the 
country,  the  3olonists  begged  him  to  take  them  home. 
Drake  granted  their  request.  They  were  scarcely  out  of 
sight  of  land,  when  a  ship,  sent  by  Baleigh,  laden  with 
supplies,  arrived.  The  colonists  could  not  be  found,  and 
the  ship  returned  to  England.  In  a  fortnight  Grenville 
appeared  with  three  ships ;  not  finding  the  colonists  he 
als«  returned  home,  unwisely  leaving  fifteen  men  to  keep 
possession  of  the  territory. 

Though  disappointed  Baleigh  did  not  despair.  The 
natural  advantages  of  the  country  had  failed  to  induce  the 


HISTOEY   OF  THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

chap,   first  company  to  remain.    It  was  hoped,  that  if  surrounded 
by  social  and  domestic  ties,  future  colonists  would  learn  to 

1586.  look  upon  it  as  their  true  home.  Sir  Walter's  second 
company  was  composed  of  emigrants  with  their  families, 
who  should  cultivate  the  soil,  and  eventually  found  a  State 
for  themselves  and  their  posterity.  Queen  Elizabeth  pro 
fessed  to  favor  the  enterprise,  but  did  nothing  to  aid  it 
The  expedition  was  fitted  out  with  all  that  was  necessary 
to  form  an  agricultural  settlement.     Kaleigh  appointed 

Jan     John  "White  governor,  with  directions  to  form  the  settle- 

1587.  ment  on  the  shores  of  Chesapeake  bay. 

They  came  first  to  the  Island  of  Koanoke,  there  to  be- 
hold a  melancholy  spectacle — the  bleaching  bones  of  the 

July>  men  whom  Grenville  had  left.  All  had  become  a  desert. 
Doubtless  they  had  been  murdered  by  the  Indians.  Fer- 
nando, the  naval  officer  in  command  of  the  fleet,  refused 
to  assist  in  exploring  the  shores  of  the  Chesapeake,  and 
the  colonists  were  compelled  to  remain  on  the  Island  of 
Koanoke.  The  scene  of  two  failures  was  to  be  the  witness 
of  a  third.  The  Indians  were  evidently  hostile.  The 
colonists  becoming  alarmed,  urged  the  governor  to  hasten 

Aug.  to  England  and  speedily  bring  them  assistance.  Previous 
to  his  leaving,  Mrs.  Dare,  his  daughter,  and  wife  of  one  of 
his  lieutenants,  gave  birth  to  a  female  child, — the  first 
child  of  English  parentage  born  on  the  soil  of  the  United 
States  ;  it  was  appropriately  named  Virginia. 

White  on  his  return  found  England  in  a  state  of  great 
excitement.  The  Pope  had  excommunicated  Queen  Eliza- 
beth, and  had  absolved  her  subjects  from  their  allegiance 
to  her  throne  ;  at  the  same  time  promising  her  kingdom 
to  any  Catholic  prince  who  should  take  possession  of  it. 
The  revengeful  Philip,  of  Spain,  that  good  son  of  the 
Church,  had  been  for  three  years  preparing  an  immense 
army  and  fleet,  with  which  he  intended  to  invade  and  con- 
quer England.    The  fleet  was  boastfully  named  the  Invin- 

1588.  cible  Armada.     The  English  naval  commanders  flocked 


DEATH    OF    SIR    WALTER    RALEIGH.  75 


CHAF 
VIII. 


Qome  from  every  part  of  the  world  to  defend  their  native 
land,  and  to  battle  for  the  Protestant  religion.  English 
seamanship  and  bravery  completely  triumphed.  From  1688 
that  hour  the  prestige  of  Spain  on  the  ocean  was  gone — it 
passed  to  England.  It  is  not  strange  that  in  such  exciting 
times  the  poor  colonists  of  Koanoke  were  overlooked  or  for- 
gotten. As  soon  as  the  danger  was  passed,  aid  was  sent ; 
but  it  came  too  late  :  not  a  vestige  of  the  colony  was  to  be 
found  ;  death  had  done  its  work,  whether  by  the  hand  of 
the  savage,  or  by  disease,  none  can  tell.  What  may  have 
been  their  sufferings  is  veiled  in  darkness.  Eighty  years 
after,  the  English  were  told  by  the  Indians  that  the  Hat- 
teras  tribe  had  adopted  the  colonists  into  their  number. 
The  probability  is  that  they  were  taken  prisoners  and  car- 
ried far  into  the  interior.  A  few  years  before  Sir  Francis 
Drake  had  broken  up  the  Spanish  settlement  at  St. 
Augustine.  Thus,  one  hundred  years  after  the  first  voy- 
age of  Columbus,  the  continent  was  once  more  in  the  pos  • 
session  of  the  Ked  Men. 

Sir  Walter  Kaleigh  had  now  expended  nearly  all  his 
fortune  ;  yet,  when  he  saw  no  prospect  of  ever  deriving 
benefit  from  his  endeavors,  he  sent  several  times,  at  his 
own  expense,  to  seek  for  the  lost  colonists  and  to  render 
them  aid.  Sir  Walter's  genius  and  perseverance  prepared 
the  way  for  the  successful  settlement  of  Virginia  ;  he  had 
sown  the  seed,  others  enjoyed  the  harvest.  The  remainder 
of  his  life  was  clouded  by  misfortune.  On  the  accession 
of  James  I.,  he  was  arraigned  on  a  frivolous  charge 
of  high  treason  ;  a  charge  got  up  by  his  enemies,  never 
substantiated,  and  never  believed  by  those  who  condemned 
him.  On  his  trial  he  defended  himself  with  a  dignity  and 
consciousness  of  innocence  that  excited  the  admiration  of 
the  world  and  put  to  shame  his  enemies.  His  remaining 
property  was  taken  from  him  by  the  king,  and  for  thirteen 
rears  he  was  left  to  languish  in  the  Tower  of  London ; 


76  HISTOKY  OF  THE   AMERICAN  PEOPLE. 

CHj^P-  James  not  yet  daring  to  order  the  execution  of  the  patriot 
statesman,,  who  was  an  ornament  to  England  and  the  age 


1888#  in  which  he  lived.  After  the  lapse  of  sixteen  years  the 
hour  came,  and  Sir  Walter  met  death  on  the  scaffold  with 
the  calmness  and  dignity  of  an  innocent  and  Christian 


77 


CHAPTER    IX. 

THE   SETTLEMENT    OF   VIRGINIA. 

London  and  Plymouth  Companies. — King  James1  Laws. — The  Voyage  and 
Arrival. — Jamestown. — John  Smith ;  his  Character,  Energy,  Captivity, 
and  Release. — Misery  of  the  Colonists. — New  Emigrants. — Lord  Dela- 
ware.— Sir  Thomas  Gates. — Pocahontas ;  her  Capture  and  Marriage. — 
Yeardley. — First  Legislative  Assembly. 

The  bold  and  energetic  Elizabeth  was  succeeded  by  the   CHAP 
timid  and  pedantic  James  I.     To  sustain  herself  against  { 

the  power  of  Spain,  she  had  raised  a  strong  military  force,  leoa. 
both  on  sea  and  land.  But  James  had  an  instinctive 
dread  of  gunpowder,  he  was  in  favor  of  peace  at  all 
hazards,  even  at  the  expense  of  national  honor.  He  dis- 
banded the  greater  portion  of  the  army,  and  dismissed 
many  of  those  employed  in  the  navy.  These  men,  left 
without  regular  employment,  were  easily  induced  to  try 
their  fortunes  as  colonists  in  Virginia.  They  were  not 
good  material,  as  we  shall  see,  but  they  prepared  the  way 
for  better  men,  and  ultimately  for  success.  Sir  Walter 
Raleigh  having  sacrificed  his  fortune  in  fruitless  attempts 
to  found  a  colony,  had  induced  some  gentlemen  to  form  a 
company,  and  engage  in  the  enterprise.  To  this  com- 
pany he  had  transferred  his  patent,  with  all  its  privileges, 
on  very  liberal  terms.  The  company  manifested  but  little 
energy  :  they  had  neither  the  enthusiasm  nor  the  liberality 
of  Sir  Walter. 

England  claimed  the  territory  from  Cape  Fear,  in  North 
Carolina,  to  Newfoundland,  and  to  the  West  indefinitely 


HISTORY  OF  THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

C  nf '    ^is  territory  King  James  divided  into  two  parts  :   South 
,  Virginia,  extending  from  Cape  Fear  to  the  Potomac  ;  and 

1G06.  North  Virginia,  from  the  mouth  of  the  Hudson  to  New- 
foundland. There  were  now  formed  two  companies  :  one 
known  as  the  London  Company,  principally  composed  of 
"  noblemen,  gentlemen,  and  merchants,"  residing  in  Lon- 
don ;  the  other  the  Plymouth  Company,  composed  of 
"  knights,  gentlemen,  and  merchants,"  living  in  the  West 
of  England.  To  the  London  Company  James  granted 
South  Virginia,  to  the  Plymouth  Company  North  Vir- 
ginia. The  region  between  the  Potomac  and  the  mouth 
of  the  Hudson  was  to  be  neutral  ground,  on  which  the 
companies  were  at  liberty  to  form  settlements  within 
fifty  miles  of  their  respective  boundaries.  The  London 
Company  was  the  first  to  send  emigrants. 

King  James  was  enamored  of  what  he  called  king- 
craft. He  believed  that  a  king  had  a  divine  right  to  make 
and  unmake  laws  at  his  own  pleasure,  and  was  bound  by 
no  obligation, — not  even  to  keep  his  own  word.  In  main- 
taining the  former  of  these  kingly  rights,  James  sometimes 
found  difficulty;  he  was  more  successful  in  exercising  the 
latter.  He  took  upon  himself  the  authority  and  labor  of 
framing  laws  for  the  colony  about  to  sail.  These  laws  are 
a  fair  specimen  of  his  kingcraft.  They  did  not  grant  a 
single  civil  privilege  to  the  colonists,  who  had  no  vote  in 
choosing  their  own  magistrates  ;  but  were  to  be  governed 
by  two  councils,  both  appointed  by  the  king, — one  resid- 
ing in  England,  the  other  in  the  colony.  In  religious  mat- 
ters, differences  of  opinion  were  forbidden  ;  all  must  con- 
form to  the  rites  of  the  church  of  England.  The  Indians 
were  to  be  treated  kindly,  and  if  possible,  converted  to 
Christianity. 
1607  Three  ships  were  sent  with  one  hundred  and  five  emi- 

grants ;  of  the  whole  number,  not  twenty  were  agricul- 
turists or  mechanics, — there  was  not  a  family  nor  a  woman 
in  the  company.    The  great  majority  were  gentlemen,  8 


SETTLEMENT    OF    JAMESTOWN, 


79 


term  then  applied  to  those  who  had  no  regular  employment,    chap 

•        »                                 Jut 
but  spent  their  time  in  idleness  and  dissipation.  

The  names  of  those  who  were  to  form  the  governing  1607. 
council,  together  with  their  instructions,  were,  by  order  of 
the  king,  foolishly  sealed  up  in  a  box,  there  to  remain  until 
they  were  ready  to  form  a  government.  Thus  when  dis- 
sensions arose  on  the  voyage,  there  was  no  legal  authority 
to  restore  harmony. 

Captain  Newport,  who  commanded  the  expedition, 
came  first  upon  the  coast  of  North  Carolina,  intending  to 
visit  the  island  of  Koanoke,  the  scene  of  Kaleigh's  failures, 
but  a  storm  suddenly  arose,  and  fortunately  drove  him 
north  into  Chesapeake  bay.  The  little  fleet  soon  entered 
a  large  river,  and  explored  its  stream  for  fifty  miles — then 
on  the  thirteenth  of  May,  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  May 
seven,  the  members  of  the  colony  landed,  and  determined  18, 
to  form  a  settlement.  The  river  was  named  James,  and 
the  settlement  Jamestown,  in  honor  of  the  king  ;  while  the 
capes  at  the  entrance  of  the  bay,  were  named  Charles  and 
Henry,  in  honor  of  his  sons. 

In  every  successful  enterprise,  we  observe  the  power  of 
some  one  leading  spirit.  In  this  case,  the  man  worthy  the 
confidence  of  all,  because  of  his  knowledge,  and  natural 
superiority  of  mind,  was  Captain  John  Smith,  justly  styled 
the  "  Father  of  Virginia."  Though  but  thirty  years  of 
age,  he  had  acquired  much  knowledge  of  the  world.  He 
had  travelled  over  the  western  part  of  Europe,  and  in  Egypt; 
had  been  a  soldier  in  the  cause  of  freedom  in  Holland  ;  had 
fought  against  the  Turks  in  Hungary,  where  he  was  taken 
prisoner,  and  sent  to  Constantinople  as  a  slave.  He  was 
rescued  from  slavery  by  a  Turkish  lady,  conveyed  to  the 
Crimea,  where  he  was  ill-treated  ;  his  proud  spirit  resisted, 
he  slew  his  oppressor  and  escaped,  wandered  across  the 
continent,  and  returned  to  England  just  as  plans  were 
maturing  to  colonize  Virginia.  He  entered  into  the  enter- 
prise with  his  habitual   energy.     His   cool   courage,  hie 


SO  HISTOET   OF  THE    AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

uhap.    knowledge  of  human  nature,  civilized  and  savage, — but 

1_   above  all,  his  honesty  and  common  sense,  fitted  him  for  the 

1607.    undertaking. 

The  superiority  of  Smith  excited  the  envy  and  jealousy 
of  those  who  expected  to  be  named  members  of  the  coun- 
cil, when  the  mysterious  box  should  be  opened.  On  false 
and  absurd  charges  he  was  arrested  and  placed  in  confine- 
ment. The  box  was  opened — the  king  had  appointed  him 
one  of  the  council.  An  effort  was  made  to  exclude  him, 
but  he  demanded  a  trial ;  his  accusers,  unable  to  substan- 
tiate their  charges,  withdrew  them,  and  he  took  his  seat. 
Wingfield,  an  avaricious  and  unprincipled  man,  was  chosen 
president  of  the  council  and  governor  of  the  colony. 

When  these  difficulties  were  arranged,  Newport  and 
Smith,  accompanied  by  some  twenty  men,  spent  three 
weeks  in  exploring  the  neighboring  rivers  and  country. 
They  visited  Powhatan,  the  principal  Indian  chief  in  the 
vicinity — "  a  man  about  sixty  years  of  age,  tall,  sour,  and 
athletic.,,  His  capital  of  twelve  wigwams,  was  situated  at 
the  falls  of  James  river,  near  where  Kichmond  now  stands. 
His  tribe  seems  to  have  been  fearful  and  suspicious  of  the 
intruding  white  men  from  the  very  first — impressed,  it  may 
be,  with  a  foreboding  of  evil  to  come. 

Soon  after,  Newport  sailed  for  home,  leaving  the  colo- 

June  nists  in  a  wretched  condition.  Their  provisions  nearly  all 
spoiled,  and  they  too  idle  to  provide  against  the  effects  of 
the  climate — much  sickness  prevailed,  and  more  than  half 
the  company  died  before  winter.  To  add  to  their  distress, 
it  was  discovered  that  Wingfield  had  been  living  upon 
their  choicest  stores,  and  that  he  intended  to  seize  the 
remainder  of  their  provisions,  and  escape  to  the  West 
Indies.  The  council  deposed  him,  and  elected  Katcliffe 
president.  The  change  was  not  for  the  better ;  he  was 
not  more  honest  than  Wingfield,  and  mentally  less  fit 
for  the  station.  In  this  emergency  the  control  of  affairs 
passed  by  tacit  consent  into  the  hands  of  Smith.     He  knew 


SMITH    A    PRISONER. 


8a 


from  the  first  what  was  needed  for  the  colony.     As  it  was   c^p< 

now  too  late  in  the  season  to  obtain  food  of  their  own  rais-   

ing,  he  had  recourse  to  trading  with  the  Indians  for  corn.  1607. 
Toward  the  close  of  autumn,  an  abundance  of  wild  fowl 
furnished  additional  provisions.  The  colony  thus  provided  Deo. 
for,  Smith  further  explored  the  neighboring  rivers  and 
country.  In  one  of  these  expeditions  he  ascended  a  branch 
of  the  James  river,  and  leaving  the  boat  in  care  of  his  men, 
took  with  him  his  Indian  guide,  and  struck  out  into  the 
forest.  Finding  himself  pursued  by  the  Indians,  he  fas- 
tened Ins  guide  to  his  arm  as  a  shield  against  their  arrows, 
and  defended  himself  with  great  bravery,  but  at  length 
sinking  in  a  swamp,  he  was  taken  prisoner.  His  captors 
regarded  him  with  strange  wonder  ;  his  cool  courage  and 
self-possession  struck  them  with  awe.  He,  aware  of  the 
simplicity  and  inquisitiveness  of  the  savage  character, 
showed  them  his  pocket  compass.  They  wondered  at  the 
motion  of  the  needle,  and  at  the  strange  transparent  cover, 
which  secured  it  from  their  touch.  Was  their  captive  a 
superior  being  ? — was  he  friendly  to  themselves  ? — how 
should  they  dispose  of  him  ? — were  questions  that  now  per- 
plexed them.  They  permitted  him  to  send  a  letter  to  NW& 
Jamestown.  The  fact  that  he  could  impress  his  thoughts 
upon  paper,  and  send  them  far  away,  they  regarded  as 
strong  proof  of  his  superiority.  He  was  led  from  place  to 
place,  to  be  gazed  at  by  the  wondering  natives  of  the 
forest.  For  three  days  they  performed  powwows,  or  religious 
ceremonies,  in  order  to  learn  from  the  spirit  world  some- 
thing of  his  nature  and  intentions.  Finally,  he  was  sent 
to  Powhatan,  to  be  disposed  of  as  he  should  decide.  The 
Indian  chief  received  him  with  a  great  display  of  savage 
pomp,  but  decided  that  he  must  die.  Preparations  were 
made,  but  the  eventful  life  of  Smith  was  not  destined  to 
be  closed  by  the  war-club  of  the  savage.  The  heart  of 
Pocahontas,  a  young  daughter  of  Powhatan,  a  girl  of  ten 
or  twelve  vears  of  age,  was  touched  with  sympathy  and 


HISTORY    OF  THE    AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

chap.  pity.     She  pleaded  with  her  father  for  his  life.     She  clung 

tenderly  to  him  as  he  bowed  his  head  to  receive  the  fata] 

1008.  stroke.  Her  interposition  was  received  by  the  savages  as 
an  indication  of  the  will  of  heaven,  and  the  life  of  Smith 
was  spared.  Her  people  have  passed  away — most  of  their 
names  are  forgotten,  but  the  name  of  Pocahontas,  and  the 
story  of  her  generous  deed,  will  ever  be  honored  and  re- 
membered. 

The  Indians  now  wished  to  adopt  Smith  into  their 
number  :  they  strove  to  induce  him  to  join  them  against 
the  English.  He  dissuaded  them  from  an  attack  upon 
Jamestown,  by  representing  to  them  the  wonderful  effects 
of  the  "big  guns."  After  an  absence  of  seven  weeks,  he 
Jan  w&s  permitted  to  return.  He  had  obtained  much  valuable 
information  of  the  country,  of  its  inhabitants,  their  lan- 
guage and  customs. 

He  found  the  colony  reduced  in  number  to  forty — in 
want  of  provisions,  and  in  anarchy  and  confusion,  while 
some  were  making  preparations  to  desert  in  the  pinnace  ; 
this  he  prevented  at  the  risk  of  his  life.  The  famishing 
colonists  were  partly  sustained  through  the  winter  by  the 
generous  Pocahontas,  who  with  her  companions  almost 
every  day  brought  them  baskets  of  corn. 

In  the  spring,  Newport  returned  with  another  com- 
pany of  emigrants  ;  like  the  first,  "  vagabond  gentlemen," 
idlers,  and  gold-hunters.  These  gold-hunters  lighted  upon 
some  earth,  glittering  with  yellow  mica  ;  they  thought  it 
golden  ore.  Every  thing  else  was  neglected  ;  the  entire 
company  engaged  in  loading  the  ships  with  this  useless 
earth.  What  a  blessing  to  England  and  the  colony  that 
it  was  not  gold  ! 

(While  the  people  of  Jamestown  were  thus  foolishly  em- 
ployed, Smith  explored  the  harbors  and  rivers  of  Chesa- 
peake bay,  and  established  friendly  relations  with  the 
Indians  along  its  shores.  From  them  he  learned  of  the 
Mohawks,  who  "  made  war  upon  all  the  world  '*     On  h^ 


UNWORTHY   EMIGRANTS.  83 

return,  he  was,  for  the  first  time,  formally  elected  Presi-    0H1* 

dent   of  the   Council.     Industry   was   now  more  wisely  , 

directed  ;  but  in  the  autumn  came  another  company  of  1608. 
idle  and  useless  emigrants.  Smith,  indignant  that  his 
efforts  to  improve  the  colony  should  thus  be  frustrated, 
wrote  to  the  council  to  send  him  but  a  few  husbandmen 
and  mechanics,  and  "  diggers  up  of  trees'  roots,"  rather 
than  a  thousand  such  men  as  had  been  sent.  The  com- 
plaint was  just.  During  two  years  they  had  not  brought 
under  cultivation  more  than  forty  acres  of  land,  while 
the  number  of  able-bodied  men  was  more  than  two  hun- 
dred. The  energetic  arm  of  Smith  was  soon  felt.  The 
first  law  he  made  and  enforced  was,  that  "  He  who  would 
not  work  should  not  eat  f  the  second,  that  "  Each  man 
for  six  days  in  the  week  should  work  six  hours  each 
lay." 

In  England,  about  this  time,  an  unusual  interest  was  May, 
manifested  in  the  colony  ;  subscriptions  were  made  to  its 
stock,  and  the  charter  materially  changed.  The  council 
was  now  chosen  by  the  stockholders  of  the  company,  in- 
stead of  being  appointed  by  the  king.  This  council  ap- 
pointed the  governor,  but  he  could  rule  with  absolute 
authority.  Not  a  single  privilege  was  yet  granted  the 
colonist :  his  property,  his  liberty,  his  life  were  at  the  dis- 
posal of  the  governor  ;  and  he  the  agent  of  a  soulless  cor- 
poration, whose  only  object  was  gain.  The  company  had 
expended  money,  but  the  course  they  themselves  pursued 
prevented  their  receiving  a  return.  Instead  of  sending  the 
industrious  and  virtuous,  they  sent  idlers  and  libertines  ; 
instead  of  farmers  and  mechanics,  they  sent  gold-seekers 
and  bankrupt  gentlemen.  Instead  of  offering  a  reward  to 
industry  they  gave  a  premium  to  idleness,  by  making  the 
proceeds  of  their  labor  go  into  a  common  stock. 

The  new  charter  excited  so  great  an  interest  in  the 
cause,  that  a  fleet  of  nine  ships  was  soon  under  way,  con- 
taining more  than  five  hundred  emigrants,  and,  for  the 


1609, 


£4  ±LL»TOftY    0*    THE    AME1UCA.N    PEOPLE. 

ohap.    first  time,  domestic  animals  and  fowls.     Lord  Delaware,  a 

ix.  .  . 
nobleman  of  excellent  character,  was  appointed  governor 

1609  for  life.  As  he  was  not  prepared  to  come  with  this  com- 
pany, he  nominated  Sir  Thomas  Gates,  Sir  George  Somers, 
and  Newport,  to  act  as  his  commissioners  until  his  own 
arrival.  Seven  of  the  vessels  came  safely,  but  the  ship  on 
which  the  commissioners  embarked,  with  another,  was 
wrecked  on  one  of  the  Bermuda  islands. 

This  company  of  emigrants  appears  to  have  been  worse 
than  any  before.  As  the  commissioners  had  failed  to  reach 
the  colony,  these  worthies  refused  to  submit  to  the  author- 
ity of  Smith,  the  acting  President,  contending  that  there 
was  no  legalized  government.  But  these  men,  who  "  would 
rule  all  or  ruin  all,"  found  in  him  a  determined  foe  to  dis- 
order and  idleness  ;  he  compelled  them  to  submit.  Un- 
fortunately, just  at  this  time,  he  was  injured  by  an  acci- 
dental explosion  of  gunpowder,  and  obliged  to  return  to 
England  for  surgical  aid.  He  delegated  his  authority  to 
George  Percy,  a  brother  of  the  Duke  of  Northumberland. 
And  now  the  man  who  had  more  than  once  saved  the 
colony  from  utter  ruin,  bade  farewell  to  Virginia  forever  ; 
from  his  arduous  labors  he  derived  no  benefit,  but  ex- 

Qct  perienced  at  the  hands  of  the  company  the  basest  in- 
gratitude. 

During  the  administration  of  Smith  the  Indians  were 
held  in  check ;  he  inspired  them  with  confidence  and 
respect.  When  the  colonists  "  beat  them,  stole  their 
corn,  and  robbed  their  gardens,"  they  complained  to  him, 
and  he  protected  their  rights.  After  his  departure,  they 
formed  a  plan  to  cut  off  the  white  men  at  a  single  blow ; 
but  Pocahontas,  that  good  genius  of  the  English,  came  at 
night,  in  a  driving  storm,  to  Jamestown,  revealed  the  plot, 
and  saved  the  colony. 

L610.  What  the  Indians  failed  to  do,  vice  and  famine  nearly 

accomplished.    In  six  months  after  the  departure  of  Smith, 
of  the  four  hundred  and  ninety  colonists  only  sixty  were 


EMIGRANTS   AND    SUPPLIES.  85 

a  ring,  and  they  would  have  perished  in  a  few  days  had   ^hap 

they  not  obtained  relief.     Sir  Thomas  Gates,  and  those  

who  were  wrecked  with  him,  found  means  to  build  a  1611. 
small  vessel,  in  which,  at  this  crisis,  they  reached  James  2^y 
river.  They  were  astonished  at  the  desolation.  They 
all  determined  to  abandon  the  place  and  sail  to  New- 
foundland, and  there  distribute  themselves  among  the 
fishermen.  They  dropped  down  the  river  with  the  tide, 
leaving  the  place  without  a  regret.  What  was  their  sur- 
prise the  next  morning  to  meet  Lord  Delaware  coming  in 
with  more  emigrants  and  abundance  of  supplies.  They  re- 
turned with  a  favoring  wind  to  Jamestown  the  same  night. 

From  this  tenth  day  of  June,  one  thousand  six  hun-  1611. 
dred  and  eleven,  the  colony  began,  under  more  favorable  cir- 
cumstances, to  revive.  Other  influences  moulded  their 
characters.  They  acknowledged  God  in  all  their  ways, 
and  their  paths  were  directed  by  His  providential  care. 
Under  the  just  administration  of  the  excellent  Delaware, 
factions  were  unknown  ;  each  one  was  disposed  to  do  his 
duty.  Before  they  commenced  the  labors  of  the  day,  they 
met  in  their  little  church  to  implore  the  blessing  of 
heaven.  The  effects  were  soon  visible  in  the  order  and 
comfort  of  the  community.  They  cheered  their  friends  in 
England  :  "  Doubt  not,"  said  they,  "  God  will  raise  our 
state  and  build  his  Church'  in  this  excellent  clime."  In 
about  a  year,  failing  health  compelled  Lord  Delaware  to 
return  to  England.  He  left  Percy,  Smith's  successor,  as 
his  representative. 

The  next  year  Sir  Thomas  Gates  arrived,  with  six  Aug. 
ships  and  three  hundred  emigrants  ;  a  majority  of  whom 
were  of  a  better  class,  temperate  and  industrious  in  their 
habits.  A  measure  was  now  introduced  which  produced 
the  greatest  effect  on  the  well-being  of  the  colony  :  to  each 
man  was  given  a  portion  of  land,  which  he  was  to  culti- 
vate for  himself.  The  good  result  of  this  was  soon  seen  in 
the  abundance  of  provisions.     The  colony  became  so  pros- 


i6ia 


86  HISTORY  OF  THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

CHAP,   perous  that  some  of  the  neighboring  tribes  of  Indians 

V    wished  to  be  "  called  Englishmen,"  and  to  be  subjects  of 

1612.    King  James.     Some  of  the  colonists,  however,  manifested 
neither  gratitude  nor  justice  toward  the  natives.    A  neigh- 
boring chief  was  won  by  the  gift  of  a  copper  kettle  to  be- 
tray into  the  hands  of  Captain  Argall,  Pocahontas,  that 
faithful  friend  of  the  colony.     Argall  had  the  meanness  to 
demand  of  her  father  a  ransom.     For  three  months  the 
indignant  Powhatan  did  not  deign  to  reply.     Meantime 
Pocahontas  received  religious  instruction  :  her  susceptible 
heart  was  moved,  she  became  a  Christian  and  was  baptized ; 
she  was  the  first  of  her  race  "  who  openly  renounced  her 
country's  idolatry."     John  Kolfe,  a  pious  young  man,  of 
"  honest  and  discreet  carriage,"  became  interested  in  the 
youthful  princess  ;  he  won  her  affections  and  asked  her  in 
marriage.     Powhatan  was  delighted.     This  marriage  con- 
ciliated him  and  his  tribe,  and  indeed  gave  general  satis- 
faction, except  to  King  James,  who  was  greatly  scandal- 
ized that  any  man,  but  one  of  royal  blood,  should  presume 
to  marry  a  princess.     Rolfe  took  his  wife  to  England, 
where  she  was  much  caressed.     She  never  again  saw  her 
native  land.     Just  as  she  was  leaving  England  for  Vir- 
ginia she  died,  at  the  early  age  of  twenty-two.     She  Jeft 
one  son,  whose  posterity  count  it  an  honor  to  have  de- 
scended from  this  noble  Indian  girl. 

Sir  Thomas  Dale  introduced  laws,  by  which  private 
individuals  could  become  proprietors  of  the  soil.  The  land- 
holders directed  their  attention  almost  exclusively  to  the 
raising  of  tobacco,  which  became  so  profitable  an  article  oi 
export,  that  it  was  used  as  the  currency  of  the  colony.  At 
one  time,  the  public  squares  and  streets  of  Jamestown 
werjB  planted  with  tobacco,  and  the  raising  of  corn  sc 
much  neglected,  that  there  was  danger  of  a  famine. 
lllfa  After  a  rule  of  two  years,  Dale  resigned  and  returned 
to  England,  leaving  George  Yeardley  as  deputy-governor 
During  his  administration,  industry  and  prosperity  con- 


HOUSE   OF    BURGESSES.  87 

tinned  to  increase.      Under  the  influence  of  a  faction,  chap 
Yeardley  was  superseded  by  the  tyrannical  Argall,  but  in  


two  years  his  vices  and  extortion,  in  connection  with  frauds    Jan., 
upon  the  company,  procured  his  dismissal,  and  the  people 
once  more  breathed  freely  under  the  second  administration 
of  the  benevolent  and  popular  Yeardley. 

Although  the  colony  had  been  in  existence  twelve 
years,  it  contained  not  more  than  six  hundred  persons,  and 
they  appeared  to  have  no  settled  intention  of  making  the 
country  their  permanent  home.  Efforts  were  still  made 
to  send  emigrants,  twelve  hundred  of  whom  came  in  one 
year,  and  every  means  were  used  to  attach  them  to  the 
soil.  At  different  times  the  company  sent  over  more  than 
one  hundred  and  fifty  respectable  young  women,  who  be- 
came wives  in  the  colony,  their  husbands  paying  the  ex- 
pense of  their  passage.  This  was  paid  in  tobacco,  the  cost 
of  each  passage  varying  from  one  hundred  and  twenty  to 
one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds.  It  was  deemed  dishonorable 
not  to  pay  a  debt  contracted  for  a  wife  ;  and  to  aid  the 
husbands,  the  government,  in  giving  employment,  preferred 
married  men.  Thus  surrounded  by  the  endearments  of 
home  and  domestic  ties,  the  colonists  were  willing  to  remain 
in  the  New  World. 

Governor  Yeardley  was  "  commissioned  by  the  com- 
pany "  to  grant  the  people  the  right  to  assist  in  making 
their  own  laws,  for  which  purpose  they  could  hold  an 
Assembly  once  a  year.  In  July,  one  thousand  six  hundred 
and  nineteen,  met  the  House  of  Burgesses,  consisting  of 
twenty- two  members  chosen  by  the  people.  A  peculiar 
interest  is  attached  to  this  first  Legislative  Assembly  in 
the  New  World.  The  laws  enacted  exhibit  the  spirit  of 
the  people.  "  Forasrnuche,"  said  the  Assembly,  "as  man's 
affaires  doe  little  prosper  when  God's  service  is  neglected, 
we  invite  Mr.  Bucke,  the  minister,  to  open  our  sessions 
by  pray  er, — that  it  would  please  God  to  sanctifie  all  our 
m-oceedinges  to  his  owne  glory  and  the  good  of  this  plan- 
tation."    They  passed  laws  against  vices  and  in  favor  of 


88  HISTORY   OF  THE   AMERICAN"  PEOPLE. 

°HAP.    industry  and  good  order.     V  In  detestation  of  idleness,' 

the  idler  was  "  to  be  sold  to  a  master  for  wages  till  he 

1619.  shewe  apparent  signes  of  amendment."  Laws  were  made 
against  playing  of  dice  and  cards,  drunkenness,  and  other 
vices  ;  and  to  promote  the  "  planting  of  come,"  of  vines, 
of  mulberry  trees,  and  the  raising  of  flax  and  hemp.  They 
made  provision  "  towards  the  erecting  of  the  University 
and  College."  This  was  designed  for  the  education  oi 
their  own  children,  as  well  as  for  "  the  most  towardly  boyes 
in  witt  and  graces"  of  the  "  natives'  children."  The  gov- 
ernor and  council  sat  with  the  Assembly,  and  took  part  in 
its  deliberations.  It  was  granted  that  a  "  generall  Assem- 
bly should  be  held  yearly  once,"  "  to  ordain  whatsoever 
laws  and  orders  would  be  thought  good  and  profitable  for 
our  subsistence." ' 

This  right  of  the  people  to  have  a  voice  in  making 
their  own  laws,  was  rigidly  maintained  until  it  found  its 
full  fruition  in  the  institutions  established  one  hundred 
and  fifty  years  afterward  by  the  Kevolution.  Emigration 
from  England  was  greatly  stimulated  ;  in  a  few  years  the 
population  numbered  nearly  four  thousand,  while  the 
inducements  to  industry  and  general  prosperity  increased 
in  the  same  proportion.  The  company  granted  a  written 
constitution,  under  which  the  people  could  have  a  legisla- 
tive assembly  of  their  own  choosing.  It  was  necessary 
that  the  laws  passed  by  the  colonial  legislature  should  be 
sanctioned  by  the  company  in  England.  As  a  check  to 
royal  interference,  no  laws  emanating  from  the  court 
could  be  valid,  unless  ratified  by  the  House  of  Burgesses. 
Thus  it  continued  until  the  dissolution  of  the  London  com- 
pany, when  King  James  arbitrarily  took  away  its  charter. 

Art.  IX.,  Vol.  III.,  Part  1.  Second  Series  of  Collections  of  the  New 
York  Historical  Society.  The  "  Reporte"  of  the  proceedings  of  this  "  First 
Assembly  of  Virginia,"  was  discovered  among  the  papers  of  the  British 
State  Paper  Office.  All  trace  of  it  had  been  lost  for  perhaps  more  than  two 
centuries;  at  length  a  search,  instituted  by  Ba^  -rft  the  historian,  was  sue 
cessful. 


OHAPTEB   X. 

COLONIZATION  OF  NEW  ENGLAND. 

first  roy  ages  to. — Plymouth  Company. — Explorations  of  John  Smith. — Thi 
Chnrch  of  England. — The  Puritans. — Congregation  of  John  Robinson. — 
11  Pilgrims"  in  Holland. — Arrangements  to  emigrate. — The  Voyage. — 
A  Constitution  framed  on  board  the  May-Flower. — Landing  at  Plym- 
outh.— Sufferings. — Indians,  Treaties  with. — "  Weston's  Men.  n — 
Thanksgiving. — Shares  of  the  London  Partners  purchased. — Democratic 
Government. 

The  usual  route  to  America  had  been  by  the  Canaries  and   chajt 
the  West  Indies.     Bartholomew  Gosnold  was  the  first       . 
navigator  who  attempted  to  find  a  shorter  one,  by  sailing    1602. 
directly  across  the  Atlantic.     His  effort  was  crowned  with 
success  :  after  a  voyage  of  seven  weeks,  he  came  upon  the 
coast  in  the  vicinity  of  Nahant.     Coasting  along  to  the 
south,  he  landed  upon  a  sandy  point,  which  he  named  Cape 
Cod  ;  and  passing  round  it  he  discovered  Martha's  Vine- 
yard, and  several  other  islands  in  the  vicinity.     While  he 
explored  the  coast  he  also  traded  with  the  natives,  and 
when  he  had  obtained  a  cargo  of  sassafras  root,  which  in 
that  day  was  much  valued  for  its  medicinal  qualities,  he 
sailed  for  home.     The  voyage  consumed  but  five  weeks, 
thus  demonstrating  tne  superiority  of  the  new  route. 

Gosnold,  who  saw  the  country  in  the  montls  of  May 
and  June,  was  eu  raptured  with  its  appearance — its  forests 
blooming  with  shrubs  and  flowers;  its  springs  of  pure  fresh 
water,  and  little  lakes;  its  beautiful  islands  nestling  among 
*0"ally  beautiful  bays  along  the  coast.     His  description, 


90  HISTORY   OF  THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

CHAP,   together  with  the  shortness  and  safety  of  the  voyage,  led 

mmm  to  many  visits  and  minor  discoveries  by  Martin  Pring  and 

1607.    others,  all  along  the  coast  of  New  England. 

The  Plymouth  Company,  of  which  mention  has  been 
made,  attempted  to  form  a  settlement  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Kennebec  in  Maine.  The  rigors  of  a  severe  winter,  and  the 
death  of  their  president,  so  discouraged  the  colonists,  that 
they  abandoned  the  enterprise,  and  returned  to  England. 

A  few  years  afterward,  Smith,  whose  valuable  services 
we  have  seen  in  Virginia,  undertook  to  explore  the  coun- 
try. He  constructed  a  map  of  the  eastern  portion,  and 
noted  the  prominent  features  of  the  territory.  The  coun- 
1614.  try  he  named  New  England — a  name  confirmed  by  the 
Prince  of  Wales,  afterward  Charles  I.  After  Smith  left 
for  England,  his  associate,  a  captain  named  Hunt,  treacher- 
ously enticed  twenty-seven  of  the  natives  with  their  chief, 
Squanto,  on  board  his  ship,  then  set  sail.  He  sold  these 
victims  of  his  avarice  into  slavery  in  Spain.  A  few  of 
them  were  purchased  by  some  friars,  who  kindly  taught 
them,  in  order  to  send  them  back  as  missionaries  to  their 
countrymen.     Among  this  number  was  Squanto. 

In  this  age,  we  are  unable  to  appreciate  fully  the  trials 
and  sufferings  experienced  by  the  explorers  and  first  settlers 
of  this  continent.  When  we  remember  the  frailty  of  the 
vessels  in  which  their  voyages  were  made,  the  perils  of  the 
unexplored  ocean,  the  dangers  of  its  unknown  coasts,  the 
hostility  of  the  wily  savage,  the  diseases  of  an  untried 
climate,  the  labor  of  converting  the  primitive  forests  into 
cultivated  fields,  we  may  well  be  astonished  that  such  dif- 
ficulties were  ever  overcome. 

We  have  now  co  narrate  the  causes  which  led  to  the 
settlement  of  New  England.  Previous  to  the  time  of 
Henry  VIII.  the  clergy  and  government  of  England  had 
been  in  religious  matters  the  implicit  subjects  of  the  church 
of  Rome.  While  this  may  be  said  of  the  clergy  it  was  dif- 
ferent with  great  numbers  of  the  people.     The  spirit  of 


THE    EXILES    RETURN    HOME.  91 

religious  truth  was  pervading  their  minds  and  moulding   chap 

their  character.     They  read  the  Bible  in  their  own  Ian-  , 

guage,  discussed  freely  its  truths,  and  compared  them  with  1525 
the  doctrines  and  practices  of  the  Komish  church.  The 
Pope  claimed  to  be  the  temporal  and  spiritual  head  of  the 
church,  and  by  virtue  of  this  claim  to  depose  princes  oi 
absolve  subjects  from  their  allegiance.  Henry  wished  t( 
be  divorced  from  his  queen  in  order  to  marry  another  ;  but 
the  Pope,  to  whom  he  applied,  as  the  highest  authority, 
hesitated  to  dissolve  the  marriage.  The  angry  king,  when 
threatened  with  excommunication,  repudiated  the  Pope 
and  his  authority,  and  declared  the  English  church  inde-  1584* 
pendent  of  that  of  Rome.  Parliament  afterward  confirmed 
by  law  what  the  king  in  a  fit  of  anger  had  done,  and 
recognized  him  as  the  head  of  the  church  in  his  own  do- 
minions. Thus  England,  by  the  act  of  her  own  govern- 
ment, became  Protestant.  True  reformation  in  religion 
does  not  apply  so  much  to  its  external  form,  as  to  its  effect 
upon  the  hearts  and  consciences  of  men.  That  portion  of 
the  English  people  who  had  learned  this  truth  from  the 
Word  of  God,  recognized  no  human  being  as  the  head  of  his 
church ;  they  received  Christ  alone  as  the  Head  of  his  own 
church,  and  they  refused  to  acknowledge  the  pretensions 
of  the  king.  For  the  maintenance  of  this  belief  they  were  155a 
persecuted  through  a  series  of  years  :  during  the  reign  of 
Henry  for  not  admitting  his  a  ithority  in  spiritual  matters  ; 
during  the  reign  of  his  daughter  Marv,  still  more  fiercely, 
for  denying  the  authority  of  the  church  of  Kome.  Many 
at  the  stake  sealed  their  faith  with  their  lives,  and  many 
fled  to  foreign  lands. 

After  the  leath  of  Mary  the  persecuting  fires  were  ex- 
tinguished, and  the  accession  of  Elizabeth  was  the  signal 
for  the  exiles  to  return  home.  They  came  back  with  more 
enlightened  views  of  the  rights  of  conscience  and  of  free 
inquiry.  Of  these*  some  were  Presbyterians,  some  Con- 
gregationalists,  and  others  members  of  the  Established 


92 


HISTOKY   OF  THE  AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 


CHx?'    Cnurcn-     They  demanded  a  more  pure  and  spiritual  wor- 

ship  than  that  of  the  church  of  England..    For  this  they 

1658.  were  in  derision  called  Puritans — a  name  which  they 
soon  made  respected,  even  by  their  enemies.  Elizabeth 
was  a  Protestant,  but  she  was  far  from  being  a  Puritan. 
She  wished  to  have  a  church  that  should  reconcile  all 
parties,  whose  ceremonies  should  be  a  happy  medium  be- 
tween the  showy  church  of  Rome  and  the  simple  form  of 
worship  asked  for  by  the  Puritans.  She  contended  stren- 
uously for  her  headship  of  the  church,  while  the  Puritan 
rejected  the  presumptuous  doctrine.  She  demanded  of  her 
subjects  implicit  obedience  to  her  in  religious  matters : 
the  Puritan  took  the  high  ground  that  it  was  his  right  to 
worship  God  according  to  his  own  conscience. 

Severe  laws  were  passed  from  time  to  time,  and  they 
were  enforced  with  unrelenting  cruelty.  All  were  en- 
joined to  conform  to  certain  ceremonies  in  worship.  Those 
who  did  not  comply  were  banished  ;  if  they  returned  with- 
160*.  out  permission,  the  penalty  was  death.  The  person  accused 
was  compelled  to  answer  on  oath  all  questions,  whether  per- 
taining to  himself  or  to  his  fellow-worshippers.  Ministers 
who  would  not  comply  with  these  laws  were  driven  from 
their  parishes  ;  the  members  of  their  congregations  were 
"  beset  and  watched  night  and  day ;"  if  they  were  de- 
tected in  listening  to  their  deprived  ministers,  or  were 
absent  a  certain  length  of  time  from  the  services  of  the 
Established  Church,  they  were  fined  and  imprisoned,  and 
punished  in  various  ways.  To  avoid  the  effects  of  such 
intolerable  laws,  many  bade  farewell  to  their  native  land, 
and  Holland  and  Switzerland  became  the  asylum  of  some 
of  the  noblest  men  and  women  of  England. 

Thus  the  contest  had  raged  for  nearly  forty  years, 
when,  in  the  latter  part  of  Queen  Elizabeth's  reign,  the 
Puritans  began  to  hope  that  the  dark  clouds  of  persecu- 
tion which  had  so  long  overshadowed  the  land  would  be 
dispelled  under  her  successor,  James  I.,  who  was  edu- 


CONGREGATION    OF    JOHN    BOBINSON. 


93 


cated  in  Scotland,  principally  under  Presbyterian  influ-  °^p 

ence.     They  had  reason  to  believe  he  would  protect  them 

id  the  exercise  of  their  form  of  worship.  They  were  grossly  1008 
deceived,  and  cruelly  disappointed.  When  it  was  for  his 
interest,  James  professed  to  be  very  favorable  to  the  Ref- 
ormation, and  more  especially  to  the  Puritan  form.  Upon 
one  occasion,  standing  with  his  hands  lifted  up  to  heaven, 
he  "  praised  God  that  he  was  king  of  such  a  kirk — the 
purest  kirk  in  all  the  world  ;  "  adding,  "  As  for  the  kirk  of 
England,  its  service  is  an  evil  said  mass."  Such  was  the 
language  of  James  just  before  he  became  king.  The  mo- 
ment he  ascended  the  throne  he  threw  off  the  mask,  and 
openly  proclaimed  his  famous  maxim,  "  No  bishop,  no 
king."  The  Puritans  humbly  petitioned  him  for  a  redress 
of  grievances  ;  he  treated  them  with  the  greatest  con- 
tempt. Said  he  to  his  bishops  :  "I  will  make  them  con- 
form, or  I  will  harry  them  out  of  the  land,  or  else  worse  : 
only  hang  them — that's  all." 

During  all  these  years  they  hoped  for  better  times,  and 
were  unwilling  to  separate  from  the  church  of  their  fathers ; 
but  suffering  and  persecution  at  length  brought  that  hour. 
Hitherto  individuals  and  families  had  gone  into  exile  ;  but 
now,  in  the  north  of  England,  a  pastor,  with  all  his  con- 
gregation, determined  to  leave  their  homes  and  flee  to 
Holland,  where  there  was  already  a  church  of  English 
exiles.  This  was  the  congregation  of  John  Robinson. 
These  poor  people  were  harassed  by  the  minions  of  the 
king  and  clergy,  and  subjected  to  the  petty  annoyances 
dictated  by  religious  intolerance.  Preparations  were  made 
for  them  to  leave.  As  they  were  about  to  sail,  the  officers 
of  the  government,  with  the  connivance  of  the  captain  of  160& 
the  ship,  came  on  board  the  vessel,  and  arrested  the  whole 
company ;  searched  their  persons,  took  possession  of  their 
effects,  and  carried  them  to  prison;  men,  women,  and 
children.  In  a  short  time  most  of  them  were  released ; 
only  seven    persons  were  brought  to    trial.      They  also 


94  HISTOKY   OF  THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

chap    were  liberated.     The  court   could  not  convict  them  oi 
x. 

crime. 

1608.  The  members  of  the  congregation  persevered  ;  and  soon 

they  engaged  a  Dutch  captain  to  take  them  from  an  un- 
frequented common.  The  women  and  children  were  to  be 
taken  to  the  place  of  embarkation  in  a  small  boat,  the 
men  to  go  by  land.  The  latter  reached  the  ship,  and 
were  taken  on  board.  The  boat  containing  the  women 
and  children  was  stranded,  and  before  it  could  be  got  off 
they  were  seized  by  a  party  of  their  enemies.  The  cap- 
tain, lest  he  should  become  involved  in  difficulties  with 
the  English  authorities,  sailed  immediately,  taking  with 
him  the  men,  overwhelmed  with  grief  for  their  defenceless 
wives  and  children  in  the  hands  of  their  cruel  oppressors. 
The  poor  women  and  helpless  children  were  dragged,  suf- 
fering from  cold,  hunger,  and  fear,  before  a  magistrate,  as 
if  they  had  been  guilty  of  crime.  They  were  treated  very 
harshly,  but  were  finally  permitted  to  join  their  husbands 
and  fathers  in  Holland. 

Now  they  were  Pilgrims  indeed,  strangers  in  a  strange 
land ;  "  but  they  lifted  up  their  eyes  to  heaven,  their 
dearest  country,  and  quieted  their  spirits."  They  re- 
mained about  a  year  at  Amsterdam ;  not  satisfied,  how- 
ever, they  removed  to  Leyden.  Their  integrity  and  in- 
dustry, their  piety  and  self-denial,  in  what  they  believed 
to  be  the  cause  of  truth,  elicited  the  respect  of  the 
Dutch.  The  government  officers  would  have  treated 
them  with  marked  favor,  but  they  feared  to  offend  King 
James.  From  year  to  year  they  received  accessions  from 
their  brethren  in  England.  They  were  still  surrounded 
by  evils,  which  made  it  necessary  for  them  again  to 
change  their  homes.  Their  labors  were  severe  ;  though 
frugal  and  industrious,  they  obtained  a  support  with 
great  difficulty.  The  desecration  of  the  Sabbath,  the 
dissolute  morals  of  the  disbanded  soldiers  and  sailors 
among:  whom  they  were  thrown,  caused  them  to  fear  for 


THEY  APPLY  TO  THE  LONDON  COMPANY.  95 

their  children.     Holland  could  not  be  their  permanent   chap. 

home.    It  dawned  upon  the  minds  of  the  more  intelligent,    '__ 

that  it  was  their  duty  to  seek  some  other  land.     Their    1616 
thoughts   were  directed   to   the  wilderness  of  the  New 
World.     They  express  not  a  wish  in  regard  to  worldly 
comfort,  but  a  desire  to  consecrate  all  to  the  great  cause 
of  promoting  Christianity. 

Though  they  had  been  so  harshly  treated  by  England, 
they  loved  her  still,  and  were  not  willing  to  accept  the 
offers  made  them,  to  colonize  under  the  protection  of  the 
Dutch.  They  had  heard  of  the  fine  climate  and  the  set- 
tlement of  Virginia,  and  resolved  to  apply  to  the  London  1617 
Company  for  permission  to  emigrate  to  their  territory.  For 
this  purpose  they  sent  two  of  their  number,  John  Carver 
and  Robert  Cushman,  to  confer  with  the  company.  Their 
proposition  was  favorably  received  by  the  excellent  Sir 
Edwin  Sandys,  the  secretary.  Their  request,  signed  by  the 
greater  part  of  the  congregation,  was  afterward  sent  to  the 
company.  In  it  they  made  a  summary  of  their  principles, 
and  a  statement  of  their  motives  of  action.  They  said,  "  We 
verily  believe  that  God  is  with  us,  and  will  prosper  us  in  our 
endeavors  ;  we  are  weaned  from  our  mother  country,  and 
have  learned  patience  in  a  hard  and  strange  land.  We 
are  industrious  and  frugal  ;  we  are  bound  together  by  a 
sacred  bond  of  the  Lord,  whereof  we  make  great  con-  nn^ 
science,  holding  ourselves  to  each  other's  good.  We  do  not 
wish  ourselves  home  again  ;  we  have  nothing  to  hope  from 
England  or  Holland  ;  we  are  men  who  will  not  be  easily 
discouraged." 

They  were  to  emigrate  under  the  sanction  of  the  com- 
pany ;  but  owing  to  dissensions  in  the  company  itself,  the 
plan  was  not  carried  out.  At  this  time  the  king  was  op- 
pressing their  brethren  in  England  more  and  more  ;  the 
only  favor  the  Pilgrims  could  obtain  from  him  was  a  half 
promise  that  he  would  not  molest  them  in  the  wilds  of 
America     In  truth,  James  wished  to  be  fieed  from  those 


06  HISTORY   OF  THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE. 

chap,    of  his  subjects  who  had  any  just  notions  of  human  rights 
„      Said  he,  "I  would  rather  live  like  a  hermit  in  the  forest, 

1619.  than  be  a  king  over  such  people  as  the  pack  of  Puritans 
that  overrule  the  House  of  Commons  \" 

There  was  yet  another  difficulty.  The  Pilgrims  were 
poor — poor  indeed  ;  in  their  persecution  and  exile  they  had 
lost  their  all.  Upon  very  hard  conditions  they  secured  the 
means  to  emigrate  ;  yet  they  were  willing  to  make  any 
sacrifice  could  they  but  worship  God  in  peace,  and  protect 
the  morals  of  their  children. 

A  company  was  now  formed  of  London  merchants,  who 
agreed  to  furnish  the  money,  while  the  emigrant  was  to 
give  his  entire  services  for  seven  years ;  these  services  were 
to  constitute  his  stock  in  the  company.  The  profits  were 
to  be  reserved  to  the  end  of  that  time,  then  a  valuation  of 
all  the  property  held  by  the  company  was  to  be  made,  and 

1620.  the  amount  distributed  to  each  in  proportion  to  his  in- 
vestment. By  contract,  the  merchant  who  invested  ten 
pounds  received  as  much  as  the  colonist  who  gave  seven 
years  of  labor.  This  throwing  of  all  their  labor  and  capital 
into  a  common  stocky  was  the  result  of  necessity,  not  of 
choice. 

They  purchased  one  ship,  the  Speedwell,  and  hired 
another,  the  May-Flower,  a  ship  of  one  hundred  and  eighty 
tons.  As  these  vessels  could  carry  only  a  part  of  the  con- 
gregation, they  determined  to  send  the  younger  and  more 
vigorous,  while  the  pastor,  Kobinson,  and  the  aged  and  in- 
firm, were  to  remain  at  Leyden.  Their  ruling  Elder, 
William  Brewster,  who  had  suffered  much  in  the  cause, 
and  was  respected  and  loved  for  his  integrity,  was  tc 
conduct  the  emigrants.  Before  they  left,  they  observed  a 
day  pf  fasting  and  prayer.  They  "  sought  of  God  a  right 
way  for  themselves  and  their  little  ones." 

The  parting  address  of  the  venerable  Kobinson  gives 
us  a  glimpse  of  the  principles  in  which,  from  year  to  year, 
he  had  instructed  them.     As  he  addressed  them  for  th* 


THE    EMBARKATION.  97 

ast  time,  he  said  :  "  I  charge  you  before  G-od  and  his  holy  chap. 

angels,  that  you  follow  me  no  farther  than  you  have  seen  

me  follow  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  If  God  reveal  any  thing  1620 
to  you,  be  ready  to  receive  it ;  for  I  am  verily  persuaded 
the  Lord  has  more  truth  yet  to  break  forth  out  of  his  Holy 
Word.  I  beseech  you  remember  it  is  an  article  of  your 
church  covenant,  that  you  be  ready  to  receive  whatever 
truth  shall  be  made  known  to  you  from  the  written  Word 
of  God.  Take  heed  what  you  receive  as  truth  ;  examine 
it,  consider  it,  and  compare  it  with  other  scriptures  of 
truth  before  you  receive  it ;  the  Christian  world  has  not 
yet  come  to  the  perfection  of  knowledge." 

A  number  of  their  brethren  came  from  Leyden  to 
Delft-Haven,  where  they  were  to  embark.  The  night 
before  their  departure  was  passed  in  religious  inter- 
course and  prayer  :  as  the  morning  dawned,  they  prepared 
to  go  on  board  the  ship.  On  the  shore  they  all  knelt, 
and  the  venerable  Kobinson  led  them  in  prayer — they 
heard  his  voice  for  the  last  time.  They  sailed  first  to 
Southampton  ;  in  a  fortnight  they  left  that  place  for  their 
distant  home.  It  is  soon  discovered  that  the  Speedwell 
needs  repairs,  and  they  must  return.  After  the  lapse  of  Aug. 
eight  days  of  precious  time,  again  they  make  the  attempt,  5* 
and  still  again  the  captain  of  the  Speedwell  asserts  that  his 
ship  cannot  cross  the  Atlantic.  They  put  back  to  Plym- 
outh :  they  there  leave  the  Speedwell,  and  those  whose 
courage  failed  them,  and  to  the  number  of  one  hundred  and 
one  once  more  commit  themselves  to  the  winds  and  waves, 
trusting  to  the  good  providence  of  God.  Sept 

Let  us  glance  for  a  moment  at  the  circumstances  and      *# 
characteristics  of  this  company.     They  were   bound   to- 
gether by  the  strong  bond  of  religious  sympathy — united 
in  interest  and  purpose,  they  expected  to  endure,  to  suffer, 
to  rejoice  together  for  many  years,  even  to  the  end  of  life. 

Prominent  among  them   was  William  Brewster,  the 
ruling  elder  and  lay  preacher,  already  mentioned,  who  was 


98  HISTOEY   OF  THE   AMEEICAK   PEOPLE. 

CHAP,    to  supply  the  place  of  the  pastor  Eobinson.    He  was  a  man 

of  education,  of  refined  associations,  and.  above  all  of  a 

1620.  lovely  and  Christian  spirit.  "  He  laid  his  hand  to  the  daily 
tasks  of  life,  as  well  as  spent  his  soul  in  trying  to  benefit 
his  fellows — so  bringing  himself  as  near  as  possible  to  the 
early  Christian  practices  ;  he  was  worthy  of  being  the  first 
minister  of  New  England."  '  There  was  also  the  dignified 
and  benevolent  John  Carver,  the  worthy  governor  of  this 
band  of  Christian  exiles,  who  in  the  cause  laid  down  his 
fortune,  and  at  length  his  life — for  he  soon  sank  beneath 
the  hardships  to  which  he  was  unused.  These  two  were 
comparatively  old  men,  but  most  of  the  "  Pilgrim 
Fathers  "  were  in  the  bloom  and  vigor  of  life. 

William  Bradford  was  but  thirty-two,  earnest,  saga- 
cious, true  and  steady  in  purpose,  "  a  man  of  nerve  and 
public  spirit ;"  self-educated,  and  so  ardent  in  the  pursuit 
of  knowledge,  that  amidst  all  his  trials  and  labors,  he 
accumulated  books,  and  found  time  to  read  and  even  to 
study  them.  As  a  farmer's  boy  in  England,  as  a  dyer  in 
Holland,  as  the  governor  of  a  small  nation  in  the  wilds  oi 
America,  he  acted  well  his  part. 

Edward  Winslow  was  "  a  gentleman  born/*'  with  a 
mind  cultivated  by  travel  and  books  ;  gentle  in  manner  as 
in  spirit,  his  soul  melted  at  the  sorrows  of  others.  Miles 
Standish  was  a  soldier,  fearless,  but  not  rash  ;  impetuous, 
but  not  vindictive  :  though  not  a  member  of  the  church, 
he  was  strongly  attached  to  its  institutions  and  to  its  most 
rigorous  advocates.  Winslow  was  twenty-six,  and  Stan- 
dish  thirty-six  years  of  age. 
jjot#  A  tedious  voyage  of  sixty-three  days  brought  them  in 

10-  sight  of  Cape  Cod.  They  had  left  their  native  land  to 
seek  in  a  howling  wilderness  an  asylum  from  persecution. 
They  had  not  the  sanction  of  a  charter  from  their  king, 
and  they  appealed  to  no  body  of  men  for  protection  :  fchey 

Elliott's  History  of  New  England. 


A    CONSTITUTION    ADOPTED.  99 

must  have  a  government ;  they  were  all  on  an  equality,   cilip 

and  they  now  drew  up  a  constitution,  or  compact,  to  which  

the  men,  servants  and  all,  to  the  number  of  forty-one,  sub-    1630. 
scribed  their  names,  and  mutually  pledged  their  obedience. 

The  words  of  this  first  constitution,  made  and  adopted 
by  an  entire  people,  plainly  indicate  whence  its  principles 
were  derived.  They  say,  "  In  the  name  of  God,  amen : 
we  whose  names  are  underwritten,  having  undertaken  for 
the  glory  of  God  and  advancement  of  the  Christian  faith, 
a  voyage  to  plant  the  first  colony  in  the  northern  parts  of 
Virginia,  do  solemnly  and  mutually  in  the  presence  of  God, 
and  one  of  another,  covenant  and  combine  ourselves  together 
into  a  body  politic  ;  and  by  virtue  hereof,  to  enact  such 
just  and  equal  laws  from  time  to  time,  as  shall  be  thought 
most  convenient  for  the  good  of  the  colony.  Unto  which 
we  promise  all  due  submission  and  obedience."  Thus  the 
principle  of  popular  liberty,  that  laws  and  constitutions 
should  be  framed  for  the  benefit  of  the  entire  people,  found 
its  utterance  in  the  cabin  of  the  May-Flower,  by  the  act 
of  the  people  themselves. 

John  Carver  was  elected  governor  for  one  year.  Miles 
Standish,  who  had  been  an  officer  in  the  army  sent  by 
Queen  Elizabeth  to  aid  the  Dutch  against  the  Spaniards, 
was  chosen  captain.  Winter  was  coming  on — they  were 
anxious  to  land,  but  unfortunately  the  shallop  needed 
repairs.  In  the  mean  time  Standish,  Bradford,  and  others, 
impatient  of  delay,  went  to  seek  a  convenient  harbor,  and 
a  suitable  place  for  a  settlement.  The  country  was  covered 
with  snow  ;  in  one  place  they  found  some  baskets  of  corn, 
and  in  another  an  Indian  burial-ground. 

In  a  fortnight  the  shallop  was  ready  for  use,  and  the 
governor,  Winslow,  Bradford,  and  Standish,  with  others 
and  some  seamen,  went  to  explore  the  bay.  The  cold  was 
intense,  freezing  the  spray  of  the  sea  on  their  clothes,  until, 
as  they  expressed  it,  they  were  made  as  hard  as  iron.  They 
landed  occasionally,  found  graves  and  a  few  deserted  wig- 


100  HISTOET   OF  THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

CHAP,    warns,  but  no  other  evidence  of  human  beings.     On  one  gj 

these  occasions  they  encamped  at  night  on  the  shore  neat 

1620.  where  the  shallop  was  moored.  The  next  morning  as  they 
were  closing  their  devotions,  they  were  startled  by  a  strange 
cry — the  war-whoop  of  the  savage — it  was  accompanied  by 
a  flight  of  arrows.  At  the  report  of  their  guns  the  Indians 
fled.  All  that  day  was  spent  in  seeking  a  safe  harbor  for 
the  ship.  Near  night  a  violent  storm  of  rain  and  snow 
drove  them  through  the  breakers  into  a  cove,  protected 
from  the  blast  by  a  hill.  In  the  midst  of  the  tempest  they 
landed,  and  with  difficulty  kindled  a  fire.  In  the  morning 
they  found  they  were  on  an  island  at  the  entrance  of  a 
harbor.  The  next  day  was  the  Sabbath  ;  though  urged  by 
every  consideration  to  hasten  to  the  ship,  they  religiously 
observed  the  day. 

On  the  morrow,  December  twenty-second,  one  thousand 
Dec.  six  hundred  and  twenty — a  day  ever  to  be  remembered  in 
22-  the  annals  of  our  country,  the  Pilgrims  landed.  The 
place  they  named  after  the  town  in  England  from 
which  they  last  sailed.  The  blessings  which  have  flowed 
from  the  settlement  of  New  England  are  associated  with 
the  spot  where  they  first  set  foot— the  Rock  of  Plym- 
outh. 

No  time  was  spent  in  idleness.  A  place  was  selected 
for  the  settlement,  and  divided  into  lots  for  families.  On 
the  third  day  they  began  to  build  ;  their  houses  went  up 
but  slowly  ;  the  forest  trees  must  first  be  felled  and  split 
into  timbers  ;  the  season  was  inclement — their  strength 
failed  them  :  many  from  exposure  had  received  into  their 
bodies  the  seeds  of  death  ;  many  were  sick,  and  many  died. 
At  one  time  there  were  only  seven  of  the  whole  company 
not  disabled  by  sickness.  During  the  winter,  more  than 
forty  were  numbered  with  the  dead;  among  these  were  the 
wives  of  Bradford  and  Winslow,  and  also  Rose,  the  young 
bride  of  Miles  Standish.  The  benevolent  Carver  lost  hi? 
son — then  he  himself  sunk  in  death,  soon  to  be  followed 


PRIVATIONS    AND    HEROISM.  101 

Dy  his  broken-hearted  widow.     They  were  all  buried  but   chap 

a  short  distance  from  the  rock  on  which  they  had  landed.  

Lest  the  many  graves  should  tell  the  Indians  the  story  of  1621. 
weakness  and  of  death,  the  spot  where  they  rested  was  j?* 
levelled  and  sown  with  grass.  At  length  spring  drew  near, 
and  warm  winds  from  the  south  moderated  the  cold.  The 
trees  began  to  put  forth  their  foliage,  and  among  their 
branches  the  "birds  to  sing  pleasantly,"  while  the  sick 
were  gradually  recovering. 

When  the  May-Flower  left  for  England,  not  one  of 
these  heroic  men  and  women  desired  to  leave  the  land  of 
their  adoption.  They  had  now  a  government ;  they  had  a 
church  covenant  ;  they  had  a  constitution  under  which 
their  rights  were  secured,  and  each  one  according  to  his 
individual  merit  could  be  respected  and  honored.  So  dear 
to  them  were  these  privileges,  that  all  the  privations  they 
had  suffered,  the  sickness  and  death  which  had  been  in 
their  midst,  the  gloomy  prospect  before  them,  could  not 
induce  them  to  swerve  from  their  determination  to  found  a 
State,  where  these  blessings  should  be  the  birth-right  of 
their  children. 

Famine  pressed  hard  Upon  them,  for  in  the  autumn  Noi 
they  were  joined  by  some  new  emigrants,  who  had  come 
ill-provisioned  ;  and  for  the  succeeding  six  months  they 
had  only  half  a  supply.  "  I  have  seen  men,"  says  Wins- 
low,  "  stagger  by  reason  of  faintness  for  want  of  food/' 
Their  privations  for  two  or  three  years  were  greater  than 
those  of  any  colony  planted  in  the  country.  But  their 
implicit  confidence  in  the  goodness  of  God  was  never 
shaken.  At  times  Indians  were  seen  hovering  around  theii 
settlement,  but  no  communication  had  been  held  with 
them,  as  they  fled  when  approached.  One  day,  to  their 
surprise,  an  Indian  boldly  entered  their  village,  crying  out, 
welcome  Englishmen !  welcome  Englishmen !  It  was 
Samoset.     He  belonged  to  the  Wampanoags,  a  tribe  living 


10. 


102  HISTOKY   OF  THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

jhap    in  the  vicinity.     He  had  learned  a  few  English  words  fron: 

mmmm  the  fishermen  on  the  Penobscot. 

1621.  Samoset,  in  the  name  of  his  tribe,  told  the  Pilgrims 

to  possess  the  land,  for  the  year  before  those  to  whom  it 
belonged  had  been  swept  away  by  a  pestilence.  This  an- 
nouncement was  a  great  relief  to  their  fears.  Sarnoset 
soon  again  appeared,  and  with  him  Squanto,  who,  as  has 
been  mentioned,  had  been  kidnapped  and  sold  into  slavery 
in  Spain,  had  been  freed,  found  his  way  to  England,  and 
finally  home.  They  announced  that  Massasoit,  the  grand 
sachem  of  the  Wampanoags,  desired  an  interview.  The 
chief  and  his  retinue  of  warriors  had  taken  their  position 
on  a  neighboring  hill.  Squanto  acted  as  interpreter.  A 
treaty  of  friendship  was  made  between  the  chief  and  the 
English,  by  which  they  promised  to  defend  each  other 
when  attacked  by  enemies.  Eor  more  than  fifty  years,  till 
King  Philip's  war,  this  treaty  was  observed.  The  Pil- 
grims offered  to  pay  for  the  baskets  of  corn  they  had 
found  buried  ;  this  they  did  six  months  afterward  when 
the  owners  appeared.  A  trade,  very  beneficial  to  the 
colony,  commenced  with  the  Indians,  who  promised  to  sell 
them  all  their  furs. 

Why  not  remember  the  humble  services  of  Squanto? 
The  Pilgrims  looked  upon  him  as  "  a  special  instrument 
sent  of  God  for  their  good  beyond  their  expectation/'  He 
taught  them  how  to  plant  corn,  to  put  fish  with  it  to  make 
it  grow,  where  to  find  the  fish  and  how  to  take  them.  He 
was  their  interpreter  and  their  pilot.  Under  his  tuition 
they  soon  raised  corn  so  abundantly  as  to  have  a  surplus  tc 
exchange  with  the  Indians  for  furs.  By  means  of  these 
furs  they  obtained  from  England  the  merchandise  they 
wanted.  He  remained  their  friend  till  his  death,  and  when 
dying  asked  the  governor  to  pray  that  he  might  go  tc 
the  "  Englishman's  God  in  heaven." 

Massasoit  desired  the  alliance  with  the  Pilgrims  as  a 
protection  against  Canonicus,  the  chief  of  the  powerful 


N  weston's  men."  103 

Narragansetts,  who  lived  on  the  shores  of  the  beautiful  bay  CHAP. 
which  bears  their  name.     Canonicus  was  not,  however,  to  , 

be  deterred  from  exhibiting  his  hostility.  As  a  challenge  1622, 
he  sent  to  Plymouth  some  arrows  wrapped  in  the  skin  of 
a  rattlesnake.  Bradford,  who  was  now  governor,  sent 
back  the  same  skin  filled  with  powder  and  shot.  The  In- 
dians looked  upon  it  as  containing  a  deadly  influence,  to 
be  exerted  against  the  enemies  of  the  English.  In  terror 
they  sent  it  from  tribe  to  tribe,  none  of  whom  dared  either 
keep  or  destroy  it.  Finally,  the  skin  and  its  contents 
were  returned  to  the  colony.  Canonicus  himself,  in  a 
short  time,  desired  an  alliance  of  peace  ;  evidently  more 
from  fear  than  from  good-will. 

In  trade  the  Pilgrims  took  no  advantage  of  the  igno- 
rance of  the  Indians.  They  became  involved  in  difficul- 
ties with  them,  however,  through  the  improper  conduct 
of  others. 

Thomas  Weston,  a  merchant  of  London,  who  had  in- 
vested money  in  the  enterprise  of  founding  the  Plymouth 
Colony,  now  wished  to  engross  the  entire  profits  of  the  fur 
trade  with  the  Indians.  He  obtained  a  patent  for  a  small 
district,  near  Weymouth,  on  Boston  harbor,  and  sent  over 
about  sixty  men,  chiefly  indented  servants.  These  men 
ill  treated  the  Indians,  stole  their  corn,  and  thus  excited 
their  hostility.  The  savage  seeks  redress  by  murdering 
those  who  do  him  wrong.  The  Indians  did  not  distinguish 
between  the  honesty  and  good-will  of  the  Pilgrims,  and 
the  dishonesty  and  evil  acts  of  "  Weston's  men ;"  they 
plotted  to  involve  all  the  white  strangers  in  one  common 
ruin.  Massasoit  was  dangerously  sick ;  Winslow  kindly 
visited  him  ;  turned  out  of  the  wigwam  the  Indian  doctors, 
who  were  making  a  great  noise  to  drive  off  the  disease,  and 
relieved  the  chief  by  giving  him  medicine  and  quiet.  The 
grateful  Massasoit  revealed  the  plot.  The  people  were 
greatly  alarmed  ;  they  had  heard  of  a  terrible  massacre  in 
Virginia,  and  they  feared  such  would  be  their  own  expe- 


104  HISTORY   OF  THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

chap,    rience.     Not  a  moment  was  to  be  lost ;  they  must  act  id 

1_  self-defence.     Captain  Standish  hastened  with  eight  men 

1628.  to  the  assistance  of  those  at  Weymouth.  He  arrived  in 
2?r*  time  not  only  to  prevent  the  attack,  but  to  surprise  the 
Indians  themselves.  In  the  conflict,  the  principal  plotting 
chief  and  some  of  his  men  were  killed.  This  exploit 
taught  the  Indians  to  respect  the  English  ;  many  of  the 
neighboring  chiefs  now  sought  peace  and  alliance.  When 
the  good  pastor,  Mr.  Eobinson,  heard  of  this  conflict,  he 
exclaimed,  "  Oh  that  they  had  converted  some  before  they 
killed  any ! "  One  year  saw  the  beginning  and  the  end  of 
this  trading  establishment  at  Weymouth.  Apprehension 
of  danger  from  the  natives  was  now  removed. 
Since  As  "  Thanksgiving  "  has  now  become  a  national  festival, 

the  manner  in  which  it  was  first  instituted  has  a  peculiar 
interest.  In  the  autumn  of  1623,  after  the  fruits  of  the 
harvest  were  gathered  in,  Governor  Bradford  sent  out  a 
company  for  game,  to  furnish  dainty  materials  for  a  feast 
God  had  blessed  their  labors,  and  this  was  to  be  a  feast  of 
thanks- giving.  "  So  they  met  together  and  thanked 
God  with  all  their  hearts,  for  the  good  world  and  the  good 
things  in  it." 

The  merchant  partners  in  England  complained  of  the 
small  profits  derived  from  their  investments.  They  began 
to  neglect  the  interests  of  the  colony,  and  to  manifest  their 
displeasure  in  various  ways.  They  would  not  permit 
Robinson  and  his  family,  with  the  remainder  of  the  church 
at  Leyden,  to  join  their  friends  at  Plymouth.  They  sold 
the  colonists  goods  at  enormous  prices,  and  sent  a  ship  tc 
rival  them  in  their  limited  fur  trade.  They  outraged  their 
feelings  by  attempting  to  force  upon  them  one  Lyford,  a 
clergyman  friendly  to  the  Established  Church.  Lyford  was 
expelled  from  Plymouth,  not  on  account  of  his  religious 
views,  but,  according  to  Bradford,  for  conduct  injurious  tc 
the  colony  and  immorality. 

In  time  industry  and  frugality  triumphed  ;   the  Pil- 


DEMOCRATIC  GOVERNMENT.  105 

grinis  in  five  or  six  years  were  able  to  purchase  the  entire   chap 

stock  of  those  who  were  annoying  them  in  this  ungenerous  mm 

manner.  The  stock  and  the  land  were  equitably  divided,  Nov. 
and  the  arrangement  of  private  property  fully  carried  out,  1627 
each  one  becoming  the  owner  of  a  piece  of  land. 

Though  the  Pilgrims  had  no  charter,  they  formed  a 
government  upon  the  most  liberal  principles.  They  had  a 
governor,  who  was  chosen  by  the  people,  and  whose  power 
was  limited  by  a  council  of  five.  For  more  than  eighteen 
years  the  whole  male  population  were  the  legislators.  1640. 

They  were  the  pioneers  of  religious  freedom — the 
openero  of  an  asylum  in  the  New  World,  to  which  th© 
persecuted  for  religion's  sake,  and  political  opinions,  have 
been  flocking  from  that  day  to  this.  Says  Governor  Brad- 
ford, in  his  history  of  the  colony :  "  Out  of  small  begin- 
nings great  things  have  been  produced,  by  His  hand  that 
made  all  things  out  of  nothing  ;  and  as  one  small  candle 
will  light  a  thousand,  so  the  light  here  kindled  hath  shone 
to  many,  yea  to  our  whole  nation." 


CHAPTER   XI. 

COLONY    OF   MASSACHUSETTS   BAY. 

JL  Company  organized. — Settlement  of  Salem. — The  Charter  transferred. — 
Boston  and  Vicinity  settled. — Encouragements. — Disputes.— Roget 
Williams;  his  Banishment;  he  founds  Providence. — Discussions  re- 
newed.— Anne  Hutchinson. — Settlement  of  Rhode  Island. — The  Dutch 
at  Hartford ;  Disputes  with. — Migrations  to  the  fertile  Valley  of  the  Con* 
necticut ;  Hooker  and  Haynes. — Springfield. — Fort  at  Saybrooke. — Pe- 
quods  become  hostile. — Expeditions  against  them ;  their  utter  Ruin. — 
Rev.  John  Davenport. — Settlement  of  New  Haven. — Sir  Ferdinand 
Gorges. — New  Hampshire. — The  United  Colonies. — The  Providence 
Plantations. — Educated  Men. — Harvard  College. — The  Printing  Press.— 
Common  Schools. — Grammar  Schools. — Quakers ;  Persecution  of. — Eliot 
the  Apostle. — The  Mayhews. — Progress. 

chap.   Persecution   raged  through  the   reign  of  James,  and 

threatened  to  continue  through  the  reign  of  his  son  and 

1624.    successor,  Charles  I. 

The  various  accounts  sent  to  England  by  the  colonists 
at  Plymouth,  excited  great  interest,  especially  in  the 
minds  of  the  Puritans.  They  listened  to  them  as  to  a 
voice  from  Heaven,  calling  upon  them  to  leave  their  native 
land,  and  join  their  brethren  in  these  ends  of  the  earth. 
This  was  not  wild  enthusiasm,  but  the  calm  promptings 
of -duty. 

Pamphlets  were  published  giving  descriptions  of  the 
land  of  promise  ;  it  promised  not  wealth  and  ease,  but  only 
peace  and  quietness.  There  were  many  who  preferred 
these,  with  toils  and  privations  in  the  wilds  of  America,  tc 
religious  persecutions  in  their  own  land. 


THE  SETTLEMENT  OF  SALEM.  107 

The  Kev.  Mr.  White,  of  Dorchester,  was  a  controlling   chap 
spirit  in  the  enterprise.    He  was  a  Puritan,  but  not  of  the  L 


Separatists  from  the  Established  Church,  as  were  Robin-    1624. 
son  and  his  congregation. 

The  Council  of  Plymouth  had  taken  the  place  of  the    1620. 
old  Plymouth  Company.     This  council  had  no  worthier 
object  than  gain  ;  it  granted  the  same  region  to  different 
individuals,  and  thus  laid  the  foundation  for  endless  dis- 
putes.    It  sold  to  some  gentlemen  of  Dorchester  a  belt  of 
territory,  extending  from  three  miles  south  of  Massachu- 
setts bay  to  three  miles  north  of  any  part  of  Merrimac    162a 
river,  and,  as  usual,  west  to  the  Pacific.     The  company 
prepared  to  send  a  colony.     The  care  of  the  enterprise 
was  intrusted  to  one  of  their  number,  John  Endicott,  a 
man  of  stern  character  and  sterling  integrity.    He  brought 
with  him  his  family,  and  about  one  hundred  other  per- 
sons ;  they  landed  at  Salem,  and  there  commenced  the 
colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay.     Men  of  wealth  and  influ-    Sept, 
ence,  such  as  Winthrop,  Thomas  Dudley,  Saltonstall,  Bel- 
lingham,  Johnson,  Simon  Bradstreet,  William  Codding- 
ton,  and  others,  who  afterward  exerted  a  great  influence 
in  the  colony,  were  willing  to  bear  a  part  in  carrying  the 
"pure  gospel"  to  New  England.     The  king  looked  upon 
the  colony  about  to  be  founded  more  as  a  trading  corpo- 
ration than  as  the  germ  of  an  independent  nation,  and  he 
willingly  gave  them  a  charter,  under  which  they  lived  more 
than  fifty  years.     By  the  terms  of  this  charter  the  royal    ^far., 
signature  was  not  necessary  to  give  validity  to  the  laws    162* 
made  under  it. 

Soon  another  choice  company,  in  which  "  no  idle  per- 
sons were  found/'  was  ready  to  sail.  The  good  Francis 
Higgirison  accompanied  them  as  their  minister.  As  the 
shores  of  England  receded  from  sight,  Higginson  expressed 
the  feelings  of  the  emigrants  ;  as  from  the  deck  of  the  ship 
his  eyes  turned  for  the  last  time  to  his  native  land,  he 
exclaimed,   "  Farewell,  England  !-  -farewell,  all  Christiap 


108  HISTORY   OF  THE    AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

chap,  friends  ! — we  separate  not  from  the  church,  but  from  its 
corruptions  ; — we  go  to  spread  the  gospel  in  America/ 


1629.  There  were  about  two  hundred  in  this  company ;  the  ma- 
e'  jority  remained  at  Salem,  the  rest  went  to  Charlestown. 
Privations  and  exposure  brought  sickness,  and  before  the 
end  of  a  year  death  had  laid  his  hand  on  more  than  half 
their  number,  among  whom  was  their  pastor,  Higginson. 
When  the  summons  came,  the  dying  seemed  only  to  re- 
gret that  they  were  not  permitted  to  aid  their  brethren  in 
founding  a  pure  church  in  the  wilderness. 

The  charter  contained  no  provision  for  the  rights  of 
^he  people,  it  left  them  at  the  mercy  of  the  corporation  ; 
and  as  long  as  that  charter  remained  in  England,  they 
could  take  no  part  in  their  own  government.  It  was  also 
silent  on  the  subject  of  their  religious  freedom  ;  at  any 
moment  this  might  be  interfered  with  by  the  king  and  his 
clergy.  There  was  only  one  way  to  be  freed  from  such 
undue  interference.  By  the  charter  their  governing  coun- 
cil could  choose  the  place  of  meeting  for  the  transaction 
of  business.  It  was  a  bold  step  ;  but  they  chose,  here- 
after, to  meet  on  the  soil  of  the  colony.  This  transfer  of 
the  governing  council  and  charter  made  its  government 
virtually  independent. 

The  officers  were  to  be  a  governor,  a  deputy  governor, 
and  eighteen  assistants.  These  were  elected  before  leav- 
1680.  ing  England.  John  Winthrop  was  chosen  governor,  and 
Thomas  Dudley  deputy  governor.  A  fleet  of  seventeen 
ships  set  sail  with  the  officers  elect,  and  fifteen  hundred 
emigrants  ;  they  arrived  in  June  and  July.  Their  arrival 
was  opportune,  for  those  who  had  preceded  them  were  in 
great  distress  from  sickness  and  scarcity  of  food. 

Settlements  were  now  made  at  various  places  around 
the  bay;  Charlestown,  Newtown,  Dorchester,  Watertown, 
A  fine  spring  of  pure  water,  on  the  peninsula  called  Shaw- 
mut,  induced  the  governor  and  some  other  persons  to  settle 
there.    The  position  was  central,  and  it  became  the  capital, 


ENCOURAGEMENTS. 


109 


under  the  name  of  Boston.     The  change  of  climate  and    chap 


lo^ 


mode  of  living  brought  disease  upon  great  numbers  ;  yet 
they  looked  upon  their  sorrows  as  so  many  trials,  designed    1680. 
to  make  them  appreciate  still  more  the  blessings  which 
the  future  had  in  store  for  them.     As  they  hoped,  these 
evils  gradually  passed  away,  and  prosperity  smiled. 

At  first,  the  assistants  could  hold  office  for  life,  and 
in  addition  it  was  their  privilege  to  elect  the  governor. 
The  people  became  jealous  of  their  liberties  ;  the  dispute 
was  compromised  by  their  electing  their  magistrates  annu- 
ally. They  were  to  be  chosen  by  the  freemen  of  the  1634 
colony,  of  whom  no  one  who  was  not  a  church  membef 
could  have  a  vote.  This  law  was  injudicious,  though 
enacted  with  the  best  intentions.  They  wished  a  govern- 
ment based  on  purely  religious  principles,  and  they  thought 
to  secure  such  a  government  by  allowing  none  but  the 
religious  to  take  part  in  it.  Another  change  was  made 
from  the  purely  democratic  form,  when  all  the  freemen 
met  in  convention  and  voted  on  the  laws,  to  that  of  the 
republican,  when  the  people  elected  deputies,  who  were  au- 
thorized to  legislate  and  transact  the  affairs  of  the  colony. 

The  colonists  dealt  honestly  with  the  Indians  and  en- 
deavored to  preserve  their  good  will.  They  "  were  to 
buy  their  lands,  and  not  to  intrude  upon,  and  in  no  respect 
injure  them  ;"  they  also  "  hoped  to  send  the  gospel  to  the 
poor  natives."  Many  of  the  neighboring  chiefs  desired 
their  friendship.  One  came  from  the  distant  river  Con- 
necticut ;  he  extolled  its  fertile  valleys  and  blooming 
meadows ;  he  offered  them  land  near  him,  because  he 
wished  their  protection  against  the  brave  and  fiery 
Pequods.  Fraternal  and  Christian  intercourse  was  held 
from  time  to  time  with  the  old  colony  of  Plymouth  ;  as  a 
harbinger  of  the  future,  there  came  from  Virginia  a  vessel 
laden  with  corn  ;  and  the  Dutch,  who  some  years  before 
had  settled  at  Manhattan,  visited  them  with  kindly  greet- 
ings.    Thus  dawned  a  brighter  day. 


110  HISTOKY   OF  THE    AMEBIC  AN"   PEOPLE. 

chap.  During  this  year  more  than  three  thousand  persons 

came  from  England,  many  of  whom  were  men  of  influence, 

1035.  wealth,  and  education.  Prominent  among  these  was  Hugh 
Peters,  an  eloquent  clergyman,  and  Harry  Vane,  a  young 
man  of  much  promise,  the  son  and  heir  of  a  privy-  council- 
lor— a  fact  of  some  importance  in  the  eyes  of  the  people. 
V*ane,  however,  was  a  true  Kepuhlican.  The  people  the 
next  year  unwisely  elected  him  governor,  in  place  of  the 
dignified  and  benevolent  Winthrop. 

The  Puritans  had  experienced  all  the  evils  of  religious 
intolerance,  but  unfortunately  they  had  not  themselves 
learned  to  be  lenient.  In  the  colony  there  was  a  young 
clergyman,  Koger  Williams,  a  man  of  ardent  temperament, 
a  clear  reasoner,  and  very  decided  in  his  opinions.  He 
came  in  conflict  with  the  magistrates  as  he  advanced  sen- 
timents which  they  deemed  subversive  of  all  authority, — 
such  as  that  obedience  to  the  magistrate  should  not  be  en- 
forced— that  the  oath  of  allegiance  should  not  be  required  : 
he  also  denounced  the  law  that  compelled  all  persons  to 
attend  worship,  as  an  infringement  of  the  rights  of  con- 
science ;  he  said  the  service  of  the  church  should  be  sup- 
ported by  its  members,  and  not  by  a  tax  upon  all  the  peo- 
ple. His  principles  were  in  advance  of  the  age  in  which 
he  lived  :  one  hundred  and  forty  years  after  this  time  they 
were  fully  carried  out.  He  contended  that  the  charter 
from  the  king  was  invalid  ;  the  Indians  were  the  original 
proprietors.  The  people  repelled  the  aspersion  as  unjust, 
because  they  had  purchased  their  lands  from  the  Indians, 
and  acknowledged  their  rights  by  making  treaties  with 
them.  The  contest  waxed  warm.  Williams  accepted  an 
invitation  to  Salem  :  the  people  of  that  place  were  admon- 
Oct.,  ishedf  by  the  General  Court  to  beware,  lest  they  should 
encourage  sedition.  Upon  this  he  retired  to  Plymouth, — 
there  for  two  years  he  maintained  his  opinions  unmo- 
lested. The  people  of  the  old  colony  had  learned  the  les- 
son of  toleration  in  theii  exile  in  Holland. 


Cp'-V/?rvyAk\  dot/. 


WILLIAMS    A    WANDERER.  Ill 

Williams  was  again  invited  to  Salem,  in  open  defiance   chap 

of  the  authority  of  the  General  Court,  the  governing  power  

of  the  colony.  A  committee  of  ministers  held  conferences  1685, 
and  discussions  with  him,  but  without  inducing  him  to 
retract.  As  the  people  of  Salem  sustained  him,  the  Court 
admonished  them,  and  pronounced  the  sentence  of  banish- 
ment against  Williams.  It  was  not  the  expression  of 
opinions  on  the  subject  of  conscience,  or  "  soul-oppression," 
as  he  termed  it,  that  alarmed  the  Court,  but  the  expression 
of  opinions  which,  if  carried  into  effect,  would,  they  affirmed, 
destroy  all  human  government. 

In  midwinter,  Williams  became  a  wanderer  for  con- 
science' sake.  He  went  to  the  sons  of  the  forest  for  that 
protection  denied  him  by  his  Christian  brethren.  For  four- 
teen weeks  he  wandered ;  sometimes  he  received  the  simple 
hospitality  of  the  natives  ;  sometimes  his  lodging-place  was 
a  hollow-tree.  At  last  he  was  received  into  the  cabin  of 
Massasoit,  at  Mount  Hope.  He  was  the  Indians'  friend, 
and  they  loved  him.  He  thought  of  settling  at  Seekonk, 
on  Pawtucket  river;  that  place  being  within  the  bounds  of 
the  Plymouth  colony,  Winslow,  the  governor,  advised  him 
to  remove  beyond  their  limits,  lest  it  should  create  diffi- 
culty with  the  Bay  colony.  Williams  received  this  advice 
in  the  spirit  in  which  it  was  given,  and  removed  to  the 
country  of  the  Narragansets.  With  five  companions  in  a 
canoe,  he  went  round  to  the  west  side  of  the  arm  of  the 
bay.  Landing  at  a  beautiful  spot,  he  found  a  spring  of 
pure  water.  He  resolved  there  to  make  a  settlement.  In 
thankfulness  he  called  the  place  Providejsxle.  Tradition  w^ 
at  this  day  points  out  the  spring  near  which  he  built  his 
cabin.  Canonicus,  the  chief  of  the  Narragansets,  would 
not  sell  his  land,  but  gave  him  a  little  domain  "  to  enjoy 
forever." 

Williams  here  put  in  practice  his  theory  of  government 
The  land  was  given  to  him,  and  he  distributed  it  to  his 
followers.     Tt  was  purely  a  government  of  the  people.    All 


112  HISTORY   OF  THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 


;hap. 

XI. 


promised  to  obey  the  voice  of  the  majority  in  temporal 
things  :  in  things  spiritual,  to  obey  only  Grod. 

1637.  Discussions  were  still  rife  in  Massachusetts  on  all  sub- 

jects. The  men  held  meetings,  in  which  they  discussed 
matters  pertaining  to  their  liberties  ;  edified  each  other 
with  expositions  of  passages  of  Scripture,  and  criticized  the 
weekly  sermons  of  their  ministers.  As  women  were  not 
allowed  to  speak  in  these  meetings,  Mrs.  Anne  Hutchin- 
son, a  woman  of  great  eloquence  and  talent,  thought  the 
rights  of  her  sex  were  not  properly  respected  ;  she  there- 
fore held  meetings  for  their  benefit  at  her  own  house.  At 
these  meetings,  theological  opinions  were  advocated,  at 
variance  with  those  of  the  ministers  and  magistrates.  The 
people  became  divided  into  two  parties,  and  the  affair  soon 
took  a  political  turn  :  on  the  one  side  were  arrayed  Win- 
throp  and  the  older  settlers,  and  with  few  exceptions,  the 
ministers  :  on  the  other,  Governor  Vane  and  the  adherents 
of  Mrs.  Hutchinson.  She  and  her  party  were  accustomed 
to  speak  of  themselves  as  "being  under  a  covenant  of 
grace/'  and  of  their  opponents  as  "  being  under  a  covenant 
of  works."  These  indefinite  phrases  irritated  her  opponents 
exceedingly.  They  proclaimed  her  a  despiser  of  all  spirit- 
ual authority  ;  "  like  Koger  Williams,  or  worse  ;"  and 
darkly  insinuated  that  she  was  a  witch.  The  friends  of 
Mrs.  Hutchinson  spoke  of  appealing  to  the  king;  this  was 
downright  treason  in  the  eyes  of  their  opponents, — their 
allegiance  was  given  to  the  government  of  the  colony,  not 
to  the  king.  A  convention  of  ministers  was  held,  they 
investigated  her  doctrines,  and  declared  them  unsound  and 
injurious.  At  the  ensuing  election,  Winthrop  was  chosen 
governor;  and  soon  after  Vane  left  for  England.  Mrs. 
Hutchinson  and  her  followers  were  admonished,  but  with- 
out effect ;  she,  with  her  brother-in-law  John  Wheelwright, 

1688  and  others,  were  exiled  from  the  colony.  How  much  wiser 
it  wo-ild  have  been  had  the  magistrates  permitted  her  to 


THE    DUTCH    AT    HARTFORD.  113 

exercise  her  "  gift  of  discussing/'  eveii  if  she  did  say  they   ^haf 

were  "  under  a  covenant  of  works  !"  

Roger  Williams  invited  the  exiles  to  settle  in  his  viein-  1638 
ity.  By  his  influence  they  obtained  from  Miantonomoh, 
the  nephew  and  prospective  successor  of  Canonicus,  a 
beautiful  island,  which  they  named  the  Isle  of  Rhodes. 
Here  this  little  company  of  not  more  than  twenty  persons, 
formed  a  settlement.  William  Coddington,  who  had  been 
a  magistrate  in  the  Bay  Colony,  was  elected  judge  or  ruler. 
They,  too,  covenanted  with  each  other  to  obey  the  laws 
made  by  the  majority,  and  to  respect  the  rights  of  con-  Oct 
science.  Mrs.  Hutchinson  and  her  family  remained  here 
several  years,  and  then  removed  farther  west  beyond  New 
Haven,  into  the  territory  of  the  Dutch  ;  there  she  and  all 
her  family  who  were  with  her,  with  the  exception  of  one 
daughter,  who  was  taken  captive,  were  murdered  by  the 
Indians.  1648. 

The  Dutch  from  Manhattan  explored  the  Connecticut  161^ 
river  six  years  before  the  landing  of  the  Pilgrims  at 
Plymouth.  They  erected  a  fortified  trading-house  near 
where  Hartford  now  stands,  but  by  ill-treating  the  In- 
dians they  excited  their  hostility,  and  lost  a  trade  that 
might  have  been  valuable. 

Unable  to  occupy  the  territory,  and  unwilling  to  lose 
its  advantages,  they  invited  the  Pilgrims  to  leave  the  1627. 
sterile  soil  of  Plymouth  and  remove  to  the  fertile  vales  of 
the  Connecticut,  and  live  under  their  protection.  The 
invitation  was  not  accepted  ;  but  as  the  Pilgrims  were 
convinced  that  a  change  to  more  fertile  lands  was  desira- 
ble, Governor  Winslow  went  on  an  exploring  tour  to  that 
region  ;  having  found  the  soil  as  fertile  as  had  been  repre-  ]  632. 
sented  he  promoted  emigration. 

The  Council  of  Plymouth  had  given  a  grant  of  Corinec-    1 630. 
ticut  to  the  Earl  of  Warwick,  who  the  next  year  trans- 
ferred his  claim  or  patent  to  Lords  Say  and  Brooke,  John 


114  HISTOEY    OF  THE    AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

chap.    Hampden,  and  others.    The  eastern  boundary  of  this  grant 

was  the  Narraganset  river,  and  the  western  the  Pacific 

ifi33.  ocean.  When  the  Dutch  learned  of  this  grant,  they  pur- 
chased of  the  Indians  the  tract  of  land  in  the  vicinity  of 
Hartford,  on  which  stood  their  trading-house,  and  pre- 
pared to  defend  their  rights  ;  they  erected  a  fort  and 
mounted  two  cannons,  to  prevent  the  English  from  ascend- 
ing the  river.  In  the  latter  part  of  the  year  Captain 
William  Holmes,  who  was  sent  by  Governor  Winslow, 
arrived  in  a  sloop,  with  a  company,  and  prepared  to  make  a 
settlement.  The  Dutch  commandant  threatened  him  with 
destruction  if  he  should  attempt  to  pass  his  fort.  The 
undaunted  Holmes  passed  by  uninjured,  and  put  up  a 
fortified  house  at  Windsor.  He  was  not  permitted  to  en- 
joy his  place  in  peace  ;  the  next  year  the  Dutch  made  an 
effort  to  drive  him  away,  but  not  succeeding  they  compro- 
mised the  matter  by  relinquishing  all  claim  to  the  valley. 
The  parties  agreed  upon  a  dividing  line,  very  nearly  the 
same  as  that  existing  at  this  day  between  the  States  of 
New  York  and  Connecticut.  As  the  natural  meadows  on 
the  Connecticut  would  furnish  much  more  grass  and  hay 
for  their  cattle  than  the  region  nearer  the  sea-shore,  many 
of  the  Pilgrims  determined  to  remove  thither. 
1685.  The  following  autumn,  a  party  of  sixty  persons,  men, 

women,  and  children,  undertook  the  desperate  work  of 
going  through  the  woods  and  swamps  from  Plymouth  to 
Connecticut.  The  journey  was  laborious  and  the  suffer- 
ing great.  When  they  arrived  at  the  river  the  ground 
was  covered  with  snow,  the  precursor  of  an  unusually  severe 
Nov.  winter.  A  sloop  from  Plymouth,  laden  with  provisions 
and  their  household  furniture,  failed  to  reach  them  on 
account  of  storms  and  ice.  Their  cattle  all  perished  ;  a 
little  corn  obtained  from  the  Indians,  and  acorns,  were  their 
only  food  ;  they  barely  escaped  starvation. 

During  this  year  three  thousand  persons  came  to  Bos- 
ton  from   England.      Among  these  was   the   Kevereud 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    THE    WILDERNESS.  115 

Thomas  Hooker,  who  has  been  called  "  The  Light  of  the   chap 

Western  Churches."     He  was  a  man  of  great  eloquence,  , 

and  of  humble  piety  ;  his  talents,  of  a  high  order,  com-  1635 
manded  universal  respect,  while  his  modesty  won  him 
ardent  friends.  When  he  was  silenced  for  non-conformity 
in  England,  great  numbers  of  the  clergy  of  the  Established 
Church  petitioned  that  he  might  be  restored.  But  in 
those  days  to  be  a  Non-Conformist  was  an  unpardonable 
offence. 

A  portion  of  his  congregation  had  emigrated  the  year 
before.  When  he  arrived  at  Boston  with  the  remainder 
of  his  flock,  the  colony  was  in  a  ferment — the  Williams 
controversy  was  going  on ;  his  people  were  wearied  with 
the  turmoil.  John  Haynes,  who  was  a  member  of  his 
congregation  in  England,  and  who  had  been  Governor  of 
Massachusetts,  determined,  with  others,  to  remove  to  Con- 
necticut. In  the  spring,  a  company,  under  the  lead  of  Mar. 
Hooker  and  Haynes,  set  out  from  the  vicinity  of  Boston  163fi 
for  the  pleasant  valley.  They  numbered  about  one  hun- 
dred persons,  some  of  whom  had  been  accustomed  to  the 
luxuries  of  life  in  England.  With  no  guide  but  a  com- 
pass they  entered  the  untrodden  wilderness  ;  toiled  on  foot 
over  hills  and  valleys  ;  waded  through  swamps  and  forded 
streams.  They  subsisted  principally  on  the  milk  of  the 
kine  that  they  drove  before  them,  and  which  browsed  on 
the  tender  leaves  and  grass.  They  moved  but  slowly. 
Their  sick  they  carried  on  litters.  The  trustful  spirit  of 
piety  and  faith  was  present,  and  the  silence  of  the  forest 
was  broken  for  the  first  time  by  Christian  songs  of 
praise.  The  man  whose  eloquence  in  his  native  land  at- 
tracted crowds  of  the  educated  and  refined,  now,  in  the 
wilderness,  comforted  and  cherished  the  humble  exiles  for  re- 
ligion's sake.  The  first  of  July  brought  an  end  to  their  la- 
borious journey.  The  greater  part  of  the  company  remained 
at  Hartford  .  some  went  up  the  river  and  founded  Spring- 
field ;  some  went  down  and  joined  those  at  WethersfielcL 


HISTORY  OF  THE   AMERICA^   PEOPLE. 

CxtP'         John  Winthrop,  the  younger,  who  had  been  sent  te 

L_  England  on  business  for  the  colony,  returned  as  agent  for 

1636.    Lords  Say  and  Brooke.     He  was  directed  to  build  a  fort 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Connecticut  river ;   it  was  named 
1685.    Saybrooke. 

These  settlements  were  now  threatened  with  destruc- 
tion. The  valley  of  the  river  and  the  region  adjoining 
were  more  densely  populated  with  Indians  than  any  por- 
tion of  New  England.  The  powerful  Pequods,  the  most 
warlike  tribe  in  the  country,  numbered  almost  two  thou- 
sand warriors,  and  ruled  over  a  number  of  smaller  tribes ; 
they  inhabited  the  south-eastern  part  of  Connecticut, 
and  the  shore  of  Long  Island  Sound  to  the  mouth  of 
Connecticut  river,  and  west  almost  to  the  Hudson. 
The  Mohegans,  who  dwelt  in  the  north-eastern  part  of 
Connecticut,  and  the  Narragansets,  who  lived  around 
Narraganset  bay,  were  the  enemies  of  the  Pequods  and 
the  friends  of  the  English.  The  Pequods  were  jealous  of 
1686  the  English,  not  merely  because  they  had  settled  near 
them,  but  because  they  were  friendly  to  their  enemies. 
These  Pequods  were  charged  with  murdering,  some  years 
before,  a  Virginia  trader,  named  Stone,  with  his  crew,  on 
the  Connecticut  river.  Stone  had  the  reputation  of  being 
intemperate  and  quarrelsome  ;  the  Pequods  said  that  he 
had  attacked  them  and  they  killed  him  in  self-defence. 
Captain  Oldham,  who  was  exploring  the  Connecticut,  was 
murdered,  with  his  crew,  by  the  Indians  living  on  Block 
Island.  Captain  John  Endicott  was  sent  to  punish  the 
murderers.  Previous  to  this  the  Pequods  had  sent  chiefs 
to  Boston  to  make  an  alliance,  and  explain  the  difficulty 
in  relation  to  the  Virginia  trader.  They  promised  to  de- 
liver up— so  the  magistrates  understood  them — the  two 
men  who  had  killed  him.  Endicott  was  ordered  to  call, 
on  his  way  home  from  Block  Island,  at  the  Pequod  town, 
and  demand  the  promised  satisfaction.  The  Indians,  ac- 
cording to  their  custom,  offered  a  ransom  for  the  two  men, 


THE    PEQUOD    WAR.  117 

but  refused  to  give  them  up  to  certain  death.     Endicott    chap 

had  no  respect  for  their  customs  ;  he  must  have  blood  for  

blood.     Angry  at  their  refusal,  he  burned  two  of  their  vil-    1636 
lages  and  destroyed  their  corn.     It  was  after  this  that  the 
Pequods  began  to  prowl  about  the  settlements,  and  pick 
off  stragglers,  until  they  had,  during  the  winter,  killed 
more  than  thirty  persons. 

The  people  in  the  Connecticut  valley  were  in  great 
alarm  ;  they  knew  not  at  what  moment  nor  at  what  point 
the  storm  would  burst.  They  called  upon  Massachusetts 
for  aid  ;  only  twenty  men  were  sent  under  Captain  Un- 
derbill. The  whole  community  were  so  much  absorbed  in 
discussing  theological  questions  with  Mrs.  Hutchinson  that 
every  other  consideration  was  overlooked. 

Although  the  Pequods  were  more  warlike  and  more 
numerous  than  any  other  tribe,  they  were  not  willing  to 
enter  upon  the  war  single-handed.  They  sent  a  deputa- 
tion to  Miantonomoh,  the  chief  of  the  Narragansets,  to 
enlist  him  against  the  common  enemy.  Governor  Vane 
wrote  to  Koger  Williams,  urging  him,  if  possible,  to  pre- 
vent the  alliance.  Williams  hastened  to  visit  Miantono- 
moh ;  he  found  the  Pequod  chiefs  already  there,  urging 
their  ancient  enemy  to  join  them  and  exterminate  the 
white  intruders — the  Narragansets  were  wavering.  At  the 
risk  of  his  life,  Williams  labored  for  three  days  to  prevent 
these  tribes  uniting  their  forces  against  the  colonists.  The 
disappointed  and  angry  Pequods  threatened  him  with 
death.  He  not  only  prevented  the  alliance,  but  obtained 
the  promise  of  the  Narragansets  to  aid  the  English.  Oct 
Meantime,  he  sent  a  messenger  to  Boston  to  warn  them  of 
;he  impending  danger. 

At  length  the  infant  settlements  of  Connecticut   in    ^ay 
convention  at  Hartford   declared  war  against  the  Pequods.      10, 
The  little  army  of  not  more  than  eighty  men,  including 
those  sent  from  Massachusetts,  assembled  at  Hartford  : 
<-,he  pious  Hooker  exhorted  them,  and  gave  the  staff  of  com- 


21 


26. 


118  HISTORY   OE  THE    AMERICAN"   PEOPLE. 

chap,  mand  to  Captain  John  Mason,  who  had  been  a  soldier  in 

'_  the  Netherlands.     At  the  request  of  the  soldiers,  part  of 

1637.  the  night  preceding  the  day  they  were  to  march  was  spent 
in  prayer.  Stone,  one  of  their  ministers,  accompanied 
them  as  chaplain.  They  floated  down  the  river,  and  sailed 
round  the  coast  to  Narraganset  bay,  intending  to  go  across 
the  country,  and  attack  the  Pequods  in  their  fort.  As  the 
latter  had  a  very  exalted  opinion  of  their  own  prowess,  they 
supposed  the  English  were  making  their  escape,  when  they 
saw  them  sailing  past  the  mouth  of  the  Pequod,  now  the 
Thames  river.  The  English  landed  at  a  harbor  in  the 
bay,  and  religiously  observed  the  Sabbath.  On  the  follow- 
May  ing  day  they  repaired  to  Canonicus,  the  old  Narraganset 
chief,  but  his  nephew  Miantonomoh  hesitated  to  join  them; 
their  numbers  were  so  small,  and  the  Pequods  so  numer- 
ous. Two  hundred  warriors,  however,  consented  to  accom- 
pany them,  but  as  rather  doubtful  friends — and  about 
seventy  Mohegans  joined  them  under  their  chief  Uncas. 

Sassacus,  the  bold  chief  of  the  Pequods,  was  too  confi- 
dent in  the  strength  of  his  two  forts,  and  in  the  bravery  of 
his  warriors  to  be  cautious.  His  main  fort,  on  the  top  of  a 
high  hill,  was  defended  by  posts  driven  in  the  ground,  and 
deemed  by  him  impregnable.  He  was  yet  to  experience 
an  attack  from  the  English.  In  the  night  Mason,  guided 
by  an  Indian  deserter,  approached  the  main  fort,  and  halted 
within  hearing  of  the  triumphant  shouts  of  the  Pe- 
quods, as  they  exulted  over  his  supposed  flight.  Toward 
the  break  of  day  the  English  moved  to  the  attack,  while 
their  Indian  allies  took  a  position  to  surround  the  fort. 
May  The  coming  struggle  was  one  of  life  or  death  to  all  that 
was  dear  to  the  little  army:  if  they  were  defeated,  all 
hopetwould  be  lost  for  their  families  on  the  Connecticut. 
The  barking  of  a  dog  awoke  the  Indian  sentinel  ;  he 
rushed  into  the  fort  with  the  cry,  The  English  !  the  English  1 
In  a  moment  more,  the  English  were  through  the  pali- 
sades, and  fighting  hand  to  hand  with  the  half  awakened 


MASSACRE    OF    THE    PEQUODS.  119 

warriors.     Their  numbers  were  overwhelming.  ■*  We  must   chap 

burn  them,"  shouted  Mason,  as  he  applied  a  torch  to  the   

dry  reeds  which  covered  a  wigwam — the  flames  spread  with  1637. 
great  rapidity.  All  was  in  confusion — as  the  despairing 
warriors  vainly  endeavored  to  extinguish  the  flames  they 
became  targets  for  the  English  marksmen.  The  Narra- 
gansets  and  Mohegans  now  joined  in  the  conflict.  More 
than  six  hundred  of  the  Pequods  perished,  men,  women, 
and  children  in  one  common  ruin,  merciless  and  unrelent- 
ing :  only  seven  escaped.  In  an  hour's  time  the  work  was 
done  ;  just  then  appeared  the  warriors,  three  hundred 
strong,  from  the  other  fort.  They  came  forth  expecting 
victory.  When  they  perceived  the  ruin  which  had  come 
upon  their  friends,  they  raved  and  stamped  the  ground  in 
despair.  Mason  with  a  chosen  band  held  them  in  check, 
till  the  remainder  of  the  army  had  embarked  on  the  boats, 
which  had  come  round  from  Narraganset  Bay.  Then 
they  hastened  home,  lest  there  should  be  a  sudden  attack 
upon  the  settlements. 

In  a  few  days  Captain  Stoughton  arrived  from  Massa-  June 
chusetts  with  one  hundred  men.  The  spirit  of  the  Pequods 
was  broken;  they  fled  to  the  west,  and  were  pursued  with 
untiring  energy.  Their  villages  were  burnt — their  corn- 
fields destroyed — their  women  and  children  slain  without 
mercy.  They  took  refuge  in  a  swamp,  and  in  desperation 
once  more  made  a  stand :  again  they  were  overwhelmed 
with  great  slaughter.  Sassacus,  their  chief,  escaped  with  a  Aug 
few  followers,  and  made  his  way  to  the  Mohawks,  where 
he  was  afterward  basely  murdered  by  one  of  his  own  sub- 
jects. The  remainder,  old  and  young,  surrendered  to  the 
victors,  who  disposed  of  them  :  some  they  gave  as  captives 
of  war  to  their  enemies,  the  Narragansets  and  Mohegans; 
and  some  they  sent  to  the  West  Indies  to  be  sold  as  slaves. 
Their  territory  was  declared  to  be  conquered,  and  their 
name  to  be  blotted  out.  They  were  the  foremost  in  that 
mournful  procession  in  which  the  Indian  race,  from  that 


120  HISTORY   OF  THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

chap,    day  to  this,  have  been  moving  on  toward  utter  extermina- 
tion.     This  terrible    example  of  the  white  man's  powei 


1687.  sent  a  thrill  of  horror  through  the  other  tribes  ;  and  for 
more  than  forty  years,  they  dared  not  raise  an  arm  in  de- 
fence of  the  graves  of  their  fathers. 

1 638.  The  year  following,  John  Davenport,  a  celebrated  cler- 

gyman of  London,  arrived  at  Boston — with  him  came  his 
friend  Theophilus  Eaton,  a  rich  merchant.  They  and  their 
associates  had  been  exiled.  They  were  cordially  welcomed 
in  Massachusetts,  and  urgently  pressed  to  remain  in  that 
colony.  They  preferred  to  go  into  the  wilderness  rather 
than  dwell  in  the  midst  of  so  much  controversy.  Kumor 
had  told  of  the  fine  region  found  to  the  west  by  the  pursu- 
ers of  the  Pequods.  Eaton,  with  a  few  men,  after  explor- 
ing the  coast  of  the  Sound,  spent  the  following  winter  at  a 
desirable  place  in  that  region.  As  soon  as  spring  opened, 
the  company  sailed  from  Boston ;  in  due  time  they  arrived 
at  the  place  where  Eaton  had  spent  the  winter ;  there, 
under  a  large  tree,  on  the  Sabbath  after  their  arrival, 

April.  Davenport  preached  his  first  sermon  in  the  wilderness.  A 
day  of  fasting  and  prayer  for  direction  was  observed,  and 
then  they  formed  a  government,  pledging  themselves  "  to 
be  governed  in  all  things  by  the  rules  which  the  Scriptures 
held  forth  to  them."  Such  was  the  settlement  of  New 
Haven,  and  thus  was  it  to  be  governed.  They  purchased 
from  the  Indians  the  right  to  the  land — Eaton  was  elected 
governor ;  and  to  the  end  of  his  life,  for  more  than  twenty 
years,  he  was  annually  chosen  to  that  office. 

After  the  war  with  the  Pequods  was  ended,  the  people 
of  the  several  settlements  on  the  Connecticut  held  a  con- 
vention at  Hartford,  and  adopted  a  constitution  and  form 

1639.  of  government.  The  constitution  was  framed  on  liberal 
principles.  They  agreed  to  "  maintain  the  purity  of  the 
gospel,"  and  in  civil  affairs  to  be  governed  by  the  laws 
made  under  their  constitution.  No  jurisdiction  was  admit- 
ted to  belong  to  the  King  of  England.     Every  one  whc 


THE   SPERIT   OF   THE   COLONISTS.  121 

took  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  commonwealth  was  enti-  c^p 

tied  to  vote.     The  governor  and  the  other  officers  were  to  

be  chosen  annually  by  ballot.     The  number  of  their  repre-    1639. 
sentatives  to  the  General  Assembly  was  to  be  apportioned 
to  the  towns,  according  to  the  number  of  inhabitants.    For 
one  hundred  and  fifty  years  this  constitution  remained  in 
force. 

Sir  Ferdinand  Gorges  and  John  Mason  obtained,  from 
their  associates  of  the  Council  of  Plymouth,  a  grant  of 
'and,  lying  partly  in  New  Hampshire  and  partly  in  Maine.  1622 
This  was  named  Laconia.  A  small  number  of  emigrants 
were  sent  over,  who  settled  at  Portsmouth,  Dover,  and  a 
few  other  places  near  the  mouth  of  the  Piscataqua.  Wheel- 
wright, when  banished  from  Massachusetts,  settled  with 
his  fellow-exiles  at  Exeter.  These  settlements  progressed 
very  slowly.  Only  a  few  trading  houses  were  scattered 
along  the  coast,  and  for  many  years  they  took  no  more 
permanent  form.  These  settlers  were  not  all  Puritans, 
and  were  but  little  united  among  themselves ;  yet,  they 
applied  and  were  annexed  to  the  colony  of  Massachusetts.  1541 
The  General  Court  agreed  not  to  insist  that  the  freemen 
and  deputies  should  be  church  members. 

In  all  their  troubles  the  colonists  of  New  England  had  1639 
never  appealed  to  the  mother  country.  They  felt  under 
no  obligation  to  her ;  she  had  driven  them  forth  with  a 
harsh  hand  to  take  care  of  themselves,  or  to  perish  in  the 
wilderness.  A  spirit  of  independence  pervaded  their 
minds.  They  had  the  energy  and  industry  to  sustain 
themselves,  and  the  courage  to  act  in  every  emergency. 

Kumors  had  reached  them  that  unprincipled  men 
were  planning  to  take  away  their  charter ;  that  Arch- 
bishop Laud  was  meditating  to  establish  over  them  the 
rule  of  the  Church  of  England  ;  that  a  governor-general 
had  been  appointed,  and  was  on  his  way. 

They  would  not  recognize  the  right  of  the  king  even 


122  HISTORY  OF  THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

chap,   to  investigate  by  what  authority  they  held  their  charter, 
1_  lest  it  might  be  inferred  that  they  were  in  any  respect  de- 

1639.  pendent  upon  his  will.  For  the  same  reason,  when  the 
Long  Parliament  professed  to  be  their  friend,  they  respect- 
fully declined  any  favors.  When  they  feared  an  attempt 
to  place  over  them  a  royal  governor,  and  to  change  their 
colony  into  a  royal  province,  they  determined  to  defend 
their  liberties,  and  poor  as  they  were,  raised  six  hundred 
pounds  for  fortifications. 

1640.  Twenty  thousand  emigrants  were  in  New  England, 
when  the  Puritans  of  the  mother  country,  galled  beyond 
endurance  by  the  outrages  committed  on  their  rights  and 
persons,  commenced  that  fearful  struggle,  which,  in  its 
throes,  overturned  the  throne,  and  brought  the  tyrannical 
Charles  I.  to  the  scaffold,  and  established  the  Common- 
wealth under  Cromwell.  During  this  period  emigration 
almost  entirely  ceased.  Many  hastened  home  to  England 
to  engage  in  the  conflict,  among  whom  were  the  Eev.  Hugh 
Peters  and  Harry  Vane.  They  both  perished  on  the 
scaffold  after  the  Kestoration. 

The  colonists,  though  unmolested  by  the  home  gov- 
ernment, were  still  surrounded  with  dangers.  They  were 
in  the  midst  of  hostile  Indians  ;  the  French  were  threat- 
ening them  in  the  North-Eastr,  and  the  Dutch  in  the  West. 
For  mutual  safety  and  interest,  Plymouth,  Massachusetts, 
Connecticut,  and  New  Haven,  joined  themselves  together, 
1648.  under  the  title  of  "  The  United  Colonies  of  New  Eng- 
land." Each  was  to  be  perfectly  free  in  the  management 
of  its  own  affairs  ;  while  those  which  properly  belonged  to 
the  whole  confederacy  were  to  be  intrusted  to  commis- 
sioners— two  from  each  colony.  Church-membership  was 
the  only  qualification  required  of  these  commissioners. 
The  expenses  of  the  government  were  to  be  assessed  ac- 
cording to  the  number  of  inhabitants.  The  purity  of  the 
gospel  was  also  to  be  preserved.  This  confederacy,  the 
germ  of  "  The  United  States  of  America,"  lasted  fortv 


THE  COLLEGE  AND  THE  PBESS. 


123 


years.     Rhode  Island  was  not  permitted  to  join  it  because  chap 

she  would  not  acknowledge  the  jurisdiction  of  Plymouth.   

The  two  settlements  on  Narraganset  bay  now  determined  1643 
to  apply  for  an  independent  charter.  When,  for  this  pur- 
pose, Roger  Williams  arrived  in  England,  he  found  the 
country  engaged  in  civil  war ;  the  Puritans  and  Parlia- 
ment on  the  one  side  and  Charles  I.  on  the  other.  Wil- 
liams applied  to  his  friend  Harry  Vane,  and  through  his 
influence  obtained  from  the  Parliament  a  charter,  under 
the  title  of  "  The  Providence  Plantations."  Roger  Wil- 
liams afterwards  became  a  Baptist,  and  founded  the  first  1544 
church  of  that  denomination  in  the  United  States. 

A  very  great  number  of  men  of  education,  ministers 
and  laymen,  emigrated  to  New  England.  There  were  of 
ministers  alone  more  than  eighty,  some  of  whom  were  equal 
to  any  of  their  profession  in  their  native  land.  There  was 
an  unusual  amount  of  general  intelligence  among  all  classes 
of  the  community.  The  Bible  to  them  was  as  familiar 
as  household  words.  In  truth,  it  was  the  intelligent  alone 
who  could  appreciate  the  blessings  for  which  they  exiled 
themselves.  They  wished  to  secure  for  their  children  the 
benefits  of  education ;  and  as  soon  as  possible  an  effort 
was  made  to  found  a  high  school  and  ultimately  a  col- 
lege. Funds,  with  some  books,  were  obtained.  The  place 
selected  was  Newtown,  but  as  many  of  the  men  had  been 
educated  at  Cambridge  University,  England,  the  name  was 
changed  to  Cambridge.  The  Reverend  John  Harvard  left 
the  infant  institution  half  his  fortune  and  his  library. 
Gratitude  has  embalmed  his  memory  in  its  name.  163& 

The  next  year  a  printing-press,  the  gift  of  some  friends  1039, 
in  Holland,  was  established.  Its  first  work  was  to  print 
a  metrical  version  of  the  Psalms,,  which  continued  for  a  long 
time  to  be  used  in  the  worship  of  the  churches  in  New  Eng- 
land. The  following  preamble  explains  the  next  law  on  the 
subject  of  education : — "  It  being  a  chief  project  of  that  old 
deluder  Sathan  to  keep  men  from  the  knowledge  of  the 


124  HISTORY  OF  THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

chap.    Scriptures/'  it  was  determined  that  every  child,  rich  and 

1_  poor  alike,  should  have  the  privilege  of  learning  to  read 

1647.  its  own  language.  It  was  enacted  that  every  town  01 
district  having  fifty  householders  should  have  a  common 
school ;  and  that  every  town  or  district,  having  one  hun- 
dred families,  should  have  a  grammar-school,  taught  by 
teachers  competent  to  prepare  youth  for  the  college.  AH 
the  New  England  colonies,  with  the  exception  of  Khode 
Island,  adopted  the  system  of  common  schools. 

This  event  deserves  more  than  a  mere  record.  It  was 
the  first  instance  in  Christendom,  in  which  a  civil 
government  took  measures  to  confer  upon  its  youth  the 
blessings  of  education.  There  had  been,  indeed,  parish 
schools  connected  with  individual  churches,  and  founda- 
tions for  universities,  but  never  before  was  embodied  in 
practice  a  principle  so  comprehensive  in  its  nature  and  so 
fruitful  in  good  results,  as  that  of  training  a  nation  of  in- 
telligent people  by  educating  all  its  youth. 

There  had  arisen  among  the  Puritans  in  England  a 
new  sect,  called  in  derision  Quakers.  An  unfavorable  re- 
port of  their  doctrines  and  doings  had  reached  Massa- 
chusetts ;  they  were  represented  as  denouncing  all  forms 
of  worship  and  denying  all  civil  authority.  At  length  two 
tte3  women  of  the  dreaded  sect  appeared  ;  they  were  arrested 
and  detained  until  their  books  could  be  examined,  and  the 
question  was  raised  whether  they  themselves  were  not 
witches.  Their  books  were  burnt  by  the  hangman,  and 
they  sent  back  to  England.  Barbarous  laws  were  made 
to  deter  Quakers  from  coming  to  the  colony ;  but  they 
?ame,  and  were  inhumanly  treated  and  sent  back.  Then 
*  law  was  passed  that  if  a  Quaker,  after  being  banished, 
returned,  he  should  be  put  to  death.  This  the  magis- 
trates fondly  hoped  would  be  effectual.  We  may  judge 
their  surprise  when  some  of  those  who  had  been  banished 
returned.  They  came  to  call  the  magistrates  to  repent- 
uice  for  their  persecuting  spirit.     What  was  to  be  done  ? 


ELIOT    THE    APOSTLE.  125 

Must  the  law  be  enforced  or  repealed  ?    It  had  been  passed   chap 

by  only  one  majority.     The  vote  was  taken  again  ;   one  

majority  decided  that  the  law  must  be  obeyed.  Four  of 
the  Quakers  suffered  the  penalty  of  death.  Severity  did 
not  accomplish  the  end  in  view;  their  brethren  flocked  to 
Massachusetts  as  if  courting  the  honor  of  martyrdom. 
From  the  first  the  people  had  been  opposed  to  the  cruel 
law,  and  at  their  instance  it  was  repealed.  There  was 
little  apology  for  these  harsh  proceedings  ;  the  magistrates 
could  only  say  they  acted  in  self-defence,  in  excluding 
those  who  taught  doctrines  that  would  interfere  with  the 
affairs  of  the  colony.  As  soon  as  persecution  ceased,  the  166« 
Quakers  became  quiet  citizens  ;  many  of  them  devoted 
themselves  to  teaching  the  Indians  under  the  direction  of 
the  missionary  Eliot. 

The  Puritans  had  long  desired  to  carry  the  gospel  to  IWC 
the  Indians.  John  Eliot,  the  devout  and  benevolent 
pastor  of  the  church  in  Roxbury,  in  addition  to  his  pas- 
toral labors,  gave  them  regular  instruction  in  Christianity. 
He  learned  their  language  that  he  might  preach  to  them  ; 
he  translated  the  Bible,  and  taught  them  to  read  in 
their  own  tongue  its  precious  truths.  This  translation, 
which  cost  him  years  of  labor,  is  now  valued  only  as  a 
literary  curiosity  ;  it  is  a  sealed  book,  no  living  man  can 
read  it.  The  language  has  passed  away  with  the  people 
who  spoke  it. 

Their  kind  instructor  induced  them  to  cease  from 
roving,  and  to  settle  in  villages  ;  he  taught  the  men  to 
cultivate  the  soil,  and  the  women  to  spin  and  weave 
oloth,  to  supply  their  wants.  He  mingled  with  them  as  a 
brother  ;  and  though  he  met  with  much  opposition  from 
their  priests  and  chiefs,  he  led  many  of  them  in  the  right 
path.  His  disciples  loved  him  ;  his  gentleness  and  good- 
ness won  their  hearts. 

As  he  lived  so  he  died,  laboring  for  the  good  of  others. 
In  his  last  days,  when  borne  down  by  years  and  infirmi- 


126  HISTORY  OF  THE  AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

chap,  ties,  lie  said,  "  My  memory,  my  utterance  fails  me,  but  1 


XI. 


thank  God  my  charity  holds  out  still."  Even  up  to  the 
1645.  day  of  his  death,  which  took  place  when  he  was  eighty- 
six  years  of  age,  he  continued  to  teach  some  poor  negroes 
and  a  little  blind  boy.  To  Minister  Walton,  who  came  to 
see  him,  he  said,  u  Brother,  you  are  welcome,  but  retire  to 
your  study,  and  pray  that  I  may  be  gone."  Soon  after, 
without  a  fear  or  a  pang,  the  spirit  of  this  good  "  Apostle" 
passed  away ;  his  last  words  were  "  Welcome  joy !" 

Eliot  was  not  alone  in  his  labors.  The  young,  the 
winning,  the  pious  May  hew,  an  accomplished  scholar, 
thought  it  a  privilege  to  toil  for  the  souls  of  the  poor 
Indians  who  lived  upon  the  islands  in  and  around  Massa- 
chusetts bay.  He  took  passage  for  England  to  excite 
there  an  interest  in  his  mission.  He  was  never  heard  of 
more ;  the  ship  in  which  he  sailed  went  down  in  unknown 
waters.  His  father,  although  at  this  time  seventy  years 
of  age,  was  moved  to  take  his  place  as  a  teacher  of  the 
Indians.  There,  for  twenty-two  years,  he  labored  with 
the  happiest  results,  till  death  withdrew  him  from  the 
work. 

Let  us  glance  at  the  inner  life  of  these  colonists 
during  the  first  generation  or  two  after  their  settlement 
in  the  wilderness.  In  these  earlier  days  the  magistrates 
had  a  sort  of  patriarchal  authority  over  the  community, 
somewhat  as  a  parent  over  his  own  household.  And  as 
the  inhabitants  were  then  comparatively  few  in  number, 
and  were  perhaps  known  individually  to  the  respective 
magistrates  in  their  own  vicinity,  the  influence  of  the  latter 
was  more  directly  exercised  than  when  the  population 
had  largely  increased.  The  children  received  instruc- 
tion in  Scripture  lessons,  and  in  the  catechism,  as  well  as 
in  the*  very  important  virtue — obedience  to  parents.  In 
all  such  matters  the  magistrates  and  ministers  took  a 
special  interest,  and  thus  aided  the  parents  in  training 
the  young.    Eor  is  it  strange,  under  these  considerations, 


RESULTS  OF  SEVERE  TRAINING.  127 

that  the  magistrates  censured  the  wearing  of  costly  ap-  chap. 
parel,  and  the  following  of  vain  new  fashions,  because  the 


people  were  poor  and  did  wrong,  they  thought,  to  waste  1645* 
their  means  on  dress  unnecessarily  expensive,  and  they 
exercised  their  prerogative  as  a  parent  who  reproves  the 
extravagance  of  his  children.  Their  descendants  some- 
times smile  at  what  they  term  the  crude  notions  of  these 
Puritan  fathers ;  but  do  these  sons  and  daughters  reflect 
how  they  themselves  acquired  this  consciousness  of  their 
own  superiority  over  their  ancestors  who  lived  more  than 
two  hundred  years  ago  ?  Their  own  attainments  unques- 
tionably have  been  the  result  of  that  severe  training  con- 
tinued from  generation  to  generation ;  each  succeeding 
one  modified  and  refined  by  the  experience,  the  educa- 
tion, and  correct  moral  influence  of  the  one  preceding ; 
so  that  each  generation  thus  profiting,  unconsciously  rose 
to  a  still  higher  plane  of  Christianized  civilization.  This 
result  is  in  accordance  with  the  God-implanted  principle 
in  the  hearts  of  parents,  to  desire  that  their  children 
should  have  better  advantages  than  they  themselves  en- 
joyed in  their  own  youth.  The  Puritans  were  far  in 
advance  of  their  contemporaries  in  the  training  of  their 
children  and  households  in  the  sterling  virtues  of  honor 
and  integrity ;  these  combined  influences  have  produced, 
in  the  course  of  five  or  six  generations,  the  most  remark- 
able progress  known  to  history. 

The  Puritans  felt  the  vast  importance  of  sacred  things, 
and  were  strenuous  in  carrying  out  their  principles.  They 
were  careful  to  leave  off  labor  at  three  o'clock  on  Satur- 
day afternoon  to  prepare  for  the  Sabbath.  They  went  to 
church,  heard  sermons  twice  a  day,  each  two  hours  long, 
heard  prayers  and  sang  psalms  of  proportionate  length, 
and  enjoyed  it.  The  tithing-man  passed  round  with  his 
staff  of  office,  on  the  one  end  of  which  was  a  brass  ball, 
on  the  other  a  tuft  of  feathers :  with  the  former  he 
tapped  the  heads  of  the  men  who  fell  asleep  during  the 


128 


HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN  PEOPLE. 


chap,  sermon ;  with  the  latter  he  gently  tickled  the  faces  of  the 

L.  drowsy  women. 

1645.  They  were  not  so  democratic  as  to  make  no  distinc- 

tions in  social  life.1  The  term  gentleman  was  seldom 
used;  the  well-born  and  the  well-bred  by  courtesy  re- 
ceived the  title  of  Mr.,  while  the  common  folk  were 
dignified  with  that  of  Goodman  or  Goody.  These  titles 
were  sometimes  taken  away  by  the  court  as  a  punish- 
ment. It  is  recorded  that  Mr.  Josias  Plaistow  robbed  an 
Indian  of  corn,  for  which  he  was  sentenced  to  lose  his 
title  of  Mr.,  and  henceforth  to  be  known  only  as  Josias. 
Their  luxuries  were  few  indeed,  but  the  women  prized 
none  more  highly  than  that  of  tea.  In  those  days  it  was 
customary  for  them  to  carry  their  own  china  cup  and 
saucer  and  spoon  to  visiting  parties.  To  be  the  possessor 
of  a  "  tea  equipage  of  silver"  was  deemed  a  worldly  de- 
sire, to  be  sure,  but  not  of  an  objectionable  kind ;  it  was 
commendable. 

Though  there  has  been  associated  with  these  colonists 
a  certain  austere  manner,  chilling  the  heart  of  cheerful- 
ness, yet  let  it  not  be  forgotten  they  had  their  innocent 
pleasure  parties,  especially  when  the  neighbors  joined  to 
aid  each  other  in  harvest  times  or  in  house-raisings.  The 
farmers  and  their  families  were  accustomed  to  go  in 
groups  at  least  once  a  year,  to  spend  a  season  at  the  sea- 
shore and  supply  themselves  with  salt  and  fish.  They 
usually  went  at  the  close  of  harvest,  when  the  weather 
was  suitable  for  camping  out.  If  they  rejected  the.  festi- 
val of  Christmas  as  a  "  relic  of  Popery,"  they  instituted 
Thanksgiving,  and  enjoyed  it  with  as  much  relish  as  the 
entire  Nation  does  to-day. 

Within  thirty  years  great  changes  had  taken  place  in 
the  colony.  The  people  were  prosperous  :  industry  and 
self-denial  had  wrought  wonders. 

Elliott's  History  of  New  England. 


THE   GKOWTH   OF   BOSTON".  129 

Says  an  enthusiastic  chronicler  of  the  times : '  "  The  chap. 

XI 

Lord  hath  been  pleased  to  turn  all  the  wigwams,  huts,  and  L 

hovels  the  English  dwelt  in  at  their  first  coming,  into  1645. 
orderly,  fair,  and  well-built  houses,  well  furnished,  many 
of  them,  with  orchards  filled  with  goodly  fruit-trees  and 
garden  flowers."  The  people  had  numerous  cattle  and 
herds  of  sheep  and  swine,  and  plenty  of  poultry ;  their 
fields  produced  an  abundance  of  wheat,  rye,  oats,  barley, 
and  Indian  corn ;  and  they  could  furnish  fish,  lumber,  and 
many  commodities  for  export.  "  This  poor  wilderness  hath 
equalized  England  in  food,  and  goes  beyond  it  for  the 
plenty  of  wine,  and  apples,  pears,  quince-tarts,  instead  of 
their  former  pumpkin  pies."  "  Good  white  and  wheaten 
bread  is  no  dainty ;  the  poorest  person  in  the  country  hath 
a  house  and  land  of  his  own,  and  bread  of  his  own  grow- 
ing— if  not  some  cattle." 

These  good  things  were  not  obtained  without  labor. 
Of  the  thirty-two  trades  carried  on,  the  most  successful 
were  those  of  coopers,  tanners,  shoemakers,  and  ship- 
builders. "  Many  fair  ships  and  lesser  vessels,  barques, 
and  ketches  were  built."  Thus  the  chronicler  anticipates  135& 
the  growth  of  Boston,  which,  "  of  a  poor  country  village, 
is  become  like  unto  a  small  city ;  its  buildings  beautiful 
and  large — some  fairly  set  out  with  brick,  tile,  stone,  and 
slate,  orderly  placed,  with  comely  streets,  whose  continual 
enlargements  presageth  some  sumptuous  city."  They 
had  their  soldiers,  too,  and  a  "  very  gallant  horse-troop," 
each  one  of  which  had  by  him  "  powder,  bullets,  and 
match."  Their  enemies  were  graciously  warned  that  these 
soldiers  "  were  all  experienced  in  the  deliverances  of  the 
Lord  from  the  mouth  of  the  lion  and  the  paw  of  the  bear." 

»  Johnson's  "  Wonder-working  Providence  of  Zion's  Saviour  in  New 
England,"— as  quoted  by  Hildreth. 


CHAPTER    XII. 

YIRGINIA    AND     MARYLAND. 

Slavery. — Massacre  by  the  Indians. — Lord  Baltimore. — The  Settlement  ol 
Maryland. — Clayborne's  Rebellion. — The  Colony  prosperous. — Tolera- 
tion.— Berkeley  governor  of  Virginia ;  Trade  crippled ;  Intolerance. — 
Indian  "War. — State  of  Society. — Aristocratic  Assembly. — Complaints  of 
Berkeley. — War  with  the  Susquehannahs. — Nathaniel  Bacon. — Disturb- 
ances.— Obnoxious  Assembly  dissolved. — Evils  corrected. — Bacon  goes 
against  the  Indians. — Insincerity  of  Berkeley. — Jamestown  captured 
and  burned. — Death  of  Bacon. — Tyranny  of  Berkeley. — Aristocratic 
Assembly ;  its  illiberal  Acts. — Culpepper  governor. — A  Series  of  extor- 
tions.— Deplorable  state  of  the  Colony. — Difficulties  in  Maryland. 

chap.  In  August  of  this  year  slavery  was  introduced  into  the 
•gL  colonies.  A  Dutch  ship  entered  James  river,  having  on 
1620.  board  twenty  negroes  for  sale  as  slaves.  Although  the 
Dutch  continued  occasionally  to  bring  Africans  to  the 
Virginia  market,  the  number  of  slaves  increased  but  slowly 
for  a  third  of  a  century.  The  trade  was  discouraged,  but 
not  absolutely  forbidden. 

The  Indians  were  scattered  throughout  the  country,  in 
little  villages,  along  the  streams  and  in  the  most  fertile 
districts.  The  planters,  who  wanted  these  places  for  theii 
tobacco,  took  possession  of  them.  Powhatan,  the  friend 
1618.  of  the  English,  was  dead  ;  his  brother  and  successor,  Ope- 
chancanough,  though  professing  friendship,  was  tfyeii 
enemy  :  his  proud  spirit  burned  within  him  at  the  wrongi 
of  his  people.  Not  daring  to  meet  the  English  in  open 
conflict,  he  planned  secretly  a  terrible  revenge ;  even  theii 
entire  extermination.     At  this  time  the  number  of  colo 


THE    MASSACRE.  131 

nists  was  about  four  thousand  ;  that  of  the  Indians  within  c^j?- 

sixty  or  a  hundred  miles  of  Jamestown,  about  five  thou-  

sand.  At  noon  on  a  certain  day,  the  Indians  were  to  fall  1622. 
upon  every  settlement,  and  murder  all  the  whites.  Mean- 
while, Opechancanough  was  warmer  than  ever  in  his  pro- 
fessions; "  sooner  would  the  skies  fall,"  said  he,  "  than  that 
my  friendship  for  the  English  should  cease."  On  the 
morning  of  the  intended  massacre,  the  Indians  were  in  the 
houses  and  at  the  tables  of  the  planters,  and  manifested 
more  than  their  usual  good  will.  On  that  morning,  a  con- 
verted Indian,  named  Chauco,  brought  the  news  of  the  plot 
to  Jamestown.  He  had  learned  of  it  only  the  night  before. 
Messengers  were  sent  in  every  direction  to  warn  the  people, 
but  it  was  too  late  to  reach  the  distant  settlements. 
Throughout  the  extent  of  one  hundred  and  forty  miles,  the 
merciless  savages  attacked  the  settlers  at  the  same  moment; 
and  on  the  twenty-second  of  March,  there  perished  within 
one  hour,  three  hundred  and  forty-seven  persons,  men,  Mar. 
women,  and  children.  Some  of  the  settlements,  though 
taken  by  surprise,  repulsed  their  assailants,  yet  the  effect 
was  terrible.  Of  eighty  plantations,  all  but  eight  were 
laid  waste,  and  the  people  hastened  for  safety  to  James- 
town. Desolation  reigned  over  the  whole  colony;  death 
had  entered  almost  every  family,  and  now  famine  and  sick- 
ness prevailed.  Within  three  months  the  four  thousand 
colonists  were  reduced  to  twenty-five  hundred ;  the  de- 
crease continued,  and  at  the  end  of  two  years  not  more 
than  two  thousand  remained  of  the  nine  thousand  who  had 
emigrated  to  Virginia.  Their  misfortunes  excited  much 
feeling  in  England.  Assistance  was  sent ;  the  city  of 
London  did  much  to  relieve  their  pressing  wants,  and  pri- 
vate individuals  were  not  backward  in  sending  aid.  Even 
King  James's  sympathies  were  enlisted  ;  he  had  never  aided 
the  colonists,  but  he  now  gave  them  some  old  muskets 
that  had  been  thrown  aside  as  useless. 

The  planters  did  not  fear  the  Indians  in  open  conflict; 


132 


HISTOEY   OF  THE  AMEBICAjS"  PEOPLE. 


"m**   ^ut  **  was  necessai7  to  guard  against  their  secret  attacks. 

In   their   turn,    they  formed   plans   to   exterminate   the 

1622.  savages,  or  drive  them  far  back  into  the  wilderness.  Expe- 
ditions for  this  purpose  were  sent  against  them  from  time 
to  time,  during  the  space  of  ten  years.  In  time  industry 
began  to  revive,  and  signs  of  prosperity  once  more  were 
seen. 

The  London  Company  was  now  bankrupt ;  endless 
discussions  arose  among  the  numerous  stockholders.  They 
became  divided  into  two  political  parties, — one  favored 
the  king's  prerogative  ;  the  other,  the  liberty  of  the  colo- 
nists. These  questions  were  freely  discussed  at  the  meet- 
ings of  the  company,  greatly  to  the  annoyance  of  James. 
When  he  found  it  impossible  to  prevent  the  stockholders 
from  expressing  their  opinions,  he  arbitrarily  took  away 
the  charter  of  the  company.  To  console  the  colonists,  he 
announced  that  he  had  taken  them  under  his  own  special 
protection.  He  began  to  frame  laws  for  their  government — 
laws  no  doubt  in  accordance  with  his  peculiar  notions  of 

l«25.    kingcraft ;  but  his  labors  and  life  were  suddenly  ended. 

Charles  I.,  his  son  and  successor,  appeared  to  favor  the 
colony  :  it  conformed  to  the  church  of  England,  and  he  did 
not  suspect  its  politics.  More  than  this,  he  wished  to 
ingratiate  himself  with  the  colonists,  for  he  desired  the 
monopoly  of  their  tobacco  trade.  He  even  went  so  far  as 
to  recognize  the  House  of  Burgesses  as  a  legislative  body, 
and  requested  them  to  pass  a  law  by  which  he  alone  could 
purchase  the  tobacco  of  the  colony.  The  House,  in  a  dig- 
nified and  respectful  manner,  refused  to  comply  with  the 

1«29.  royal  request,  as  it  would  be  injurious  to  their  trade. 
After  the  death  of  the  liberal  and  high-minded  Yeardley, 
the  council  elected  Francis  West  governor.  Charles, 
piqued  at  this  independence,  as  well  as  the  refusal  to 
grant  him  the  monopoly,  appointed  Sir  John  Harvey. 
Harvey  had  been  a  member  of  the  colonial  council,  where 
he  was  the  willing  instrument  of  a  faction  that  had  almost 


SIR   GEORGE   CALVERT.  133 

ruined  the  prospects  of  the   colony.     The  enemy  of  the  chap. 

rights  of  the  people,  he  was  exceedingly  unpopular ;  he  

now  took  special  care  of  his  own  interests  and  those  of  his    1688. 
friends,  by  appointing  them  alone  to  office. 

The  histories  of  Virginia  and  Maryland  are  intimately 
connected.  As  has  been  mentioned,  Captain  Smith  was 
the  first  to  explore  the  Chesapeake  ;  the  trade  with  the 
Indians  along  its  shores  had  now  become  profitable. 
Though  the  Potomac  river  was  the  northern  boundary  of 
Virginia,  the  colonists  had  extended  their  trade  and  influ- 
ence with  the  Indians  on  both  sides,  up  to  the  head  of  the 
bay.  William  Clayborne,  a  bold  and  restless  spirit,  a  sur- 
veyor of  land  by  profession,  was  employed  by  the  Governor 
of  Virginia  to  explore  the  sources  of  the  Chesapeake.  A 
company  was  formed  in  England  for  the  purpose  of  trading 
with  the  Indians,  who  lived  on  both  sides  of  the  bay. 
Clayborne,  the  agent  of  the  company,  obtained  a  license  to 
trade,  and  established  two  stations,  one  on  Kent  Island, 
opposite  Annapolis,  and  one  at  the  mouth  of  the  Susque- 
hannah. 

During  the  turmoil  of  religious  parties  and  persecu- 
tions in  England,  Sir  George  Calvert,  afterward  Lord 
Baltimore,  left  the  Protestant  church,  resigned  his  office 
of  Secretary  of  State,  and  professed  himself  a  Roman 
Catholic.  This  did  not  affect  his  standing  with  James  01 
his  son  Charles.  Calvert  manifested  a  strong  interest  in 
the  cause  of  colonization.  He  wished  to  found  a  colony  to 
which  Catholics  might  flee  to  avoid  persecution.  He  first 
obtained  permission  to  found  a  settlement  on  the  cold  and 
barren  shores  of  Newfoundland  ;  that  enterprise  was  soon  162% 
abandoned.  He  turned  to  Virginia,  a  clime  more  genial ; 
there  he  was  met  by  the  oaths  of  supremacy  and  alle- 
giance, to  which,  as  a  good  Catholic,  Lord  Baltimore  could 
not  subscribe  ;  Virginia  could  never  be  a  peaceful  asylum 
for  those  of  his  faith.     The  region  north  of  it  attracted  his 


134  HISTOEY  OP  THE  AMEBICAH   PEOPLE. 

cSfTp-    attention,  and  he  applied  to  King  Charles  for  a  portion  of 

L  that  territory. 

1682  Charles  gave  him  a  grant  of  land,  most  of  which  is  now 

included  in  the  State  of  Maryland  ;  it  was  named  after 
Henrietta  Maria,  the  wife  of  the  king.  As  a  proprietary 
Lord  Baltimore  deserves  all  praise  for  his  liberality.  The 
cojonists  were  to  have  a  voice  in  making  their  own  laws  ; 
they  were  not  to  be  taxed  without  their  own  consent. 
He  was  bold  to  repudiate  intolerance,  and  politic  to 
adopt  a  form  of  government  which  alone  could  insure 
success.  He  designed  his  colony  to  be  an  asylum  for  the 
Catholic,  but  the  Protestant  was  invited  to  share  it.  Just 
as  the  charter  was  about  to  be  issued  he  died.  To  his  son 
Cecil,  under  the  same  title,  the  charter  was  continued ;  to 
him  belongs  the  honor  of  carrying  into  effect  the  inten- 
tions of  his  father. 

Feb.,  He  deputed  his  brother,  Leonard,  to  take  charge  of 

the  emigrants,  who,  to  the  number  of  two  hundred,  after 
a  protracted  voyage,  arrived  safely  in  the  Chesapeake.  A 
tribe  of  Indians  residing  on  the  St.  Mary's,  a  branch  of  the 
Potomac,  were  about  to  remove  on  account  of  their  ene- 
mies the  Susquehannahs  ;  they  sold  to  the  infant  colony 
their  cultivated  land  and  their  village.  The  Indian 
women  taught  the  strangers'  wives  to  make  bread  of 
maize  ;  and  soon  the  emigrants  had  corn-fields  and 
gardens,  and  obtained  abundance  of  game  in  the  forest. 
A  few  days  after  their  arrival,  Governor  Harvey,  of  Vir- 
ginia, paid  them  a  friendly  visit ;  it  was  the  desire  of 
Charles  that  they  should  be  welcomed  by  the  sister  colony. 
Friendly  relations  were  established  with  the  neighboring 
Indians  ;  the  colonists  for  a  time  obtained  their  necessary 
pro  visions  from  Virginia,  but  as  they  were  industrious,  the 
fruitful  earth  soon  repaid  their  labor.  At  the  commence- 
ment of  the  second  year,  the  freemen  of  the  colony  held 
their  first  legislative  Assembly. 

Clayborne  was  the  evil  genius  of  Maryland.    His  licecse 


1682. 


EFFORTS   TO    CONVERT   THE    INDIANS.  135 

to  trade  with  the  Indians  was  made  void  by  Lord  Balti-   chap 

more's  charter.     He  attempted  to  excite  a  rebellion,  but  

was  overpowered  and  compelled  to  flee  to  Virginia.  The  1635 
Governor  of  Maryland  demanded  him  as  a  fugitive  from 
justice  ;  to  evade  the  demand  Harvey  sent  him  to  Eng- 
land to  be  tried.  This  offended  the  people  of  Virginia, 
who  sympathized  with  Clayborne  ;  to  avenge  him,  they 
impeached  Harvey  himself,  "  and  thrust  him  out  of  his 
government."  The  Assembly  appointed  commissioners 
to  prosecute  the  charges  against  him  in  England.     The 

commissioners  met  with  no  favor  from  the  king  ;  and  soon,  April, 

1689 
under  a  new  appointment,  the  unpopular  Harvey  came 

back  as  governor. 

Meanwhile  peace  and  plenty  continued  to  be  the  lot 
of  Maryland.  Every  year  the  rights  of  the  people  were 
better  understood  ;  they  acknowledged  their  allegiance  to 
England,  and  respected  the  rights  of  Lord  Baltimore. 
Their  lands  produced  an  abundance  of  tobacco,  and  com- 
merce began  to  prosper.  Efforts  were  now  made  to  con- 
vert some  of  the  neighboring  Indians  to  Christianity. 
The  priests  established  four  stations  among  them,  and  not 
without  effect.  One  chief,  Tayac,  with  his  wife,  was  bap- 
tized, he  taking  the  name  of  Charles  and  she  that  of  Mary. 
Soon  after  one  hundred  and  thirty  other  converts  received 
baptism,  some  of  whom  sent  their  children  to  receive  a 
Christian  education  under  the  care  of  the  priests.  But, 
alas  !  these  efforts  were  as  vain  as  the  other  attempts  of 
the  times  to  Christianize  the  poor  natives.  The  same  evil 
causes  were  here  at  work — wars  and  the  influence  of  bad 
men.  It  is  said  these  grateful  tribes  ever  after  remained 
friendly  to  those  who  endeavored  to  instruct  them. 

The   persevering    Clayborne   returned,  to  mar   their   264£^ 
peace  by  another  and  more  successful  insurrection.     The 
Governor  of  Maryland  was  now,  in  his  turn,  compelled  to 
flee  to  Virginia.     After  two  years  of  misrule,  peace  was 
again  restored,  and  all  the  offenders  were  pardoned. 


136  HISTOEY   OP  THE  AMERICAS"   PEOPLE. 

chap.  As  an  interesting  fact,  it  may  be  mentioned,  that  in 

this  year  Maryland  passed  a  law  of  perfect  toleration  to 

1649.  all  Christian  sects  ;  two  years  previous  Khode  Island  had 
granted  toleration  to  all  opinions,  Infidel  as  well  as 
Christian. 

During  the  rule  of  Cromwell  the  government  of  Mary- 
land was  very  unsettled.  The  Assembly,  finally,  repu- 
diated both  Cromwell  and  Baltimore,  and  proclaimed  the 
authority  of  the  people  as  supreme.  Scarcely  was  this  ac- 
complished when  the  restoration  of  Charles  II.  took  place. 
1660.  Lord  Baltimore  made  known  to  the  king  that  his  profes- 
sions of  republicanism  were  made  only  to  obtain  the  favoi 
of  Cromwell,  and  that  really  he  was  a  good  royalist 
Charles  immediately  restored  him  his  proprietary  rights. 
Baltimore  was  not  vindictive ;  he  proclaimed  a  general 
pardon,  and  for  almost  thirty  years  the  colony  enjoyed 
repose. 

Sir  William  Berkeley,  as  successor  to  Harvey,  was  ap- 
1642.  pointed  Governor  of  Virginia.  The  trade  of  the  colony 
was  crippled  by  severe  restrictions  ;  as  England  claimed 
its  trade  for  herself  alone.  Thus  began  a  series  of  acts 
and  infringements  on  commerce  by  the  home  government, 
which  annoyed  the  people  of  the  colonies,  and  interfered 
with  their  industry  and  commercial  prosperity  for  more 
than  one  hundred  and  thirty  years,  when  these  grievances 
1776.  were  swept  away  by  the  Kevolution.  The  colony  was  now 
permitted  for  a  time  to  take  care  of  itself,  Charles  I.  being 
engaged  in  a  contest  with  his  subjects  at  home.  The  Vir- 
ginians were  stanch  friends  of  the  king,  and  the  party  in 
the  mother  country  contending  against  him  met  with  no 
favor  from  them.  The  Puritans  who  were  living  in  Vir- 
ginia, 'being  identified  with  republicanism,  were  looked 
upon  with  suspicion ;  those  of  their  number  who  would 
not  conform  to  the  ceremonies  of  the  Church  of  England 
were  banished.  A  majority  of  these  passed  over  into 
Maryland.     Thus  it  was,  the  Puritan  would  not  permit 


THE   LOYALTY    OF   VIRGINIA. 

the  Episcopalian  to  come  to  New  England,  and  the  Epis    chap. 
copalian  banished  the  Puritan  from  Virginia.  1 

No  peace  was  granted  to  the  Indians.  After  a  space  1644. 
of  twenty-two  years,  they  once  more  made  an  effort  to  free 
themselves  from  their  enemies.  The  frontier  settlements 
were  suddenly  attacked,  and  about  three  hundred  persons 
killed.  When  resisted,  the  savages  fled  to  the  wilderness. 
They  were  pursued  with  great  vigor,  and  after  a  contest 
of  two  years  their  power  was  completely  broken.  Opechan- 
canough,  their  aged  chief,  was  taken  captive,  and  soon 
after  died  in  prison  ;  his  proud  spirit  deeply  wounded  that 
he  should  be  gazed  at  by  his  enemies.  The  next  year  a 
treaty  was  made,  by  which  they  relinquished  forever  the 
fertile  valleys  of  their  fathers,  and  with  sorrowful  hearts 
retired  far  into  the  wilderness. 

After  the  execution  of  Charles  I.,  great  numbers  of  the 
royalists,  "  good  cavalier  families,"  fled  to  Virginia,  where 
they  were  welcomed  as  exiled  patriots.  She  was  the  last 
of  the  colonies  to  acknowledge  the  authority  of  the  Common- 
wealth. But  when  commissioners  were  sent,  who  granted 
the  people  all  the  civil  rights  and  privileges  they  asked, 
they  submitted. 

After  the  death  of  Cromwell,  and  before  it  was  known 
who  was  to  rule  in  England,  the  House  of  Burgesses  re- 
solved, u  that  the  supreme  power  will  be  resident  in  the 
Assembly."  Then  Berkeley  was  elected  governor.  In 
accepting  office,  he  acknowledged  the  authority  of  the 
people's  representatives,  saying,  "  I  am  but  the  servant  of 
the  Assembly ."  We  shall  see  how  sincere  was  that  decla- 
ration. 

When  Charles  II.  was  in  exile,  he  was  invited  to  come 
and  be  "  king  of  Virginia;  "  from  this  incident,  it  has 
been  called  "  The  Old  Dominion/'  This  loyalty  Charles 
after  his  restoration  repaid,  by  basely  taking  away  their 
privileges,  and  distributing  their  lands  among  his  favorites. 

The  society  of  Virginia  was  peculiar.    The  first  settle- 


138  HISTORY   OF  THE   AMERICAN  PEOPLE. 

CH-AjP-   ments  were  made  under  the  protection  of  the  nobility;  this 

favored  the  growth  of  an  aristocratic  class  of  landholders. 

1660.  There  were  two  other  classes — the  negro,  who  was  a  slave 
for  life,  and  the  indented  white  man,  sent  from  the  mother 
country  to  serve  a  certain  number  of  years.  These  white 
servants  were  sometimes  criminals,  but  oftener  political 
offenders.  The  latter,  when  their  term  of  servitude  ex- 
pired, mingled  with  the  people  on  an  equality. 

The  Assembly  held  their  sessions  once  in  two  years  , 
their  members  were  chosen  by  the  people,  and  only  for  one 
session.  The  first  Assembly  held  after  the  Restoration, 
was  composed  of  landholders.  Berkeley  now  declared  him- 
self governor,  not  because  he  was  elected  by  the  people, 
but  because  Charles  when  in  exile  had  appointed  him. 

1662.  The  Assembly  went  still  further,  and  deprived  the  peo- 

ple of  the  privilege  of  choosing  their  own  legislators,  by 
assuming  to  themselves  the  right  to  be  perpetual.  This 
Assembly  remained  thus  in  violation  of  law  for  fourteen 

1676.  years.  During  this  usurpation,  all  that  the  people  had 
gained  of  civil  rights  for  more  than  a  third  of  a  century, 
this  aristocratic  House  of  Burgesses  swept  away.  The  only 
right  allowed  them  was  that  of  petitioning  their  rulers  for 
redress  of  grievances — but  these  petitions  were  disregarded. 
The  Church  of  England  was  declared  to  be  the  religion  of 
the  State,  and  all  were-  bound  by  law  under  penalties  of 
fines  and  banishment,  not  only  to  attend  its  services,  but 
to  pay  a  tax  to  support  it.  Governor  Berkeley  complained 
of  its  ministers  :  "  as  of  all  other  commodities,  so  of  this — 
the  worst  are  sent  us,  and  we  have  few  that  we  can  boast 
of,  since  the  persecutions  in  Cromwell's  tyranny  drove 
divers  worthy  men  hither."  The  cause  of  education  was 
neglected,  and  almost  prohibited.  The  poor  were  pecu- 
liarly unfortunate — "  out  of  towns,"  says  a  chronicler  of 
the  times,  "  every  man  instructs  his  children  as  best  he 
can  :" — no  aid  was  afforded  them  by  those  in  authority. 
Says  the  aristocratic  Berkeley :  "  I  thank  God  there  are 


NATHANIEL   BACON. 


139 


no  free  schools  nor  printing  ;  and  I  hope  we  will  not  ha?e  c^p 
them  these  hundred  years  ! "     Such  was  the  language  of  , 

a  man  who  was  Governor  of  Virginia  for  nearly  forty  years.  1639. 
The  printing-press  was  established  in  Massachusetts  ninety  1729. 
years  before  there  was  one  in  Virginia. 

The  people  of  Maryland  became  involved  in  war  with 
the  Indians.  A  company  of  Virginians,  under  John  Wash-  1675. 
ington,  great-grandfather  of  George  Washington,  crossed 
over  the  Potomac  to  aid  them.  Six  chiefs  of  the  Susque- 
hannahs  came  to  treat  for  peace,  but  the  Virginians  treach- 
erously murdered  the  whole  company.  For  this  evil  deed 
the  innocent  were  made  to  suffer.  The  Susquehannahs 
immediately  passed  over  into  Virginia  to  revenge  their 
death,  by  killing  ten  persons  for  each  chief.  According  to 
their  belief,  until  this  sacrifice  was  made,  the  souls  of  their 
chiefs  could  not  be  at  rest  in  the  spirit  land.  The  people 
cried  to  the  governor  for  protection,  which  he  was  slow  to 
give  ;  they  attributed  his  tardiness  to  his  interest  in  the 
fur-trade.  They  now  asked  permission  to  defend  them- 
selves ;  to  invade  the  enemies'  country,  and  drive  them 
from  their  hiding-places  ;  this  was  also  refused.  During 
this  delay,  the  Indians  pursued  their  murderous  work  all 
along  the  frontiers. 

There  was  in  the  colony  a  young  planter,  not  more  than 
thirty  years  of  age,  a  native  of  England  ;  a  lawyer  by  pro- 
fession ;  eloquent  and  winning  in  his  manners  ;  bold  and 
determined  in  spirit ;  a  true  patriot ;  disliked  by  the  gov- 
ernor, because  he  was  a  republican  ;  but  dear  to  the  peo- 
ple for  the  same  reason  :  such  was  Nathaniel  Bacon.  To 
him,  in  their  extremity,  they  turned.  Those  who  had 
volunteered  to  go  against  the  Indians,  asked  of  the  gover- 
nor a  commission  for  Bacon  to  command  them.  Berkeley 
obstinately  refused  to  grant  it.  He  would  not  countenance 
such  presumption  on  the  part  of  the  "  common  people." 
The  murders  continued  ;  the  volunteers  waited  no  longer 
on  the  tardy  government,  but  set  out  under  the  command 


140  HISTORY   OP  THE   AMEBIC  AH   PEOPLE. 

chap,    of  Bacon  to  repel  the  savages.     The  moment  they  were 

gone,  Berkeley  proclaimed  Bacon  a  traitor,  and  his  soldiers 

1676.    rebels,  and  gave  orders  for  them  to  disperse. 
A-prU. 

The  populous  counties  on  the  Bay  began  to  show  signs 
of  insurrection.  Their  quarrel  was  not  with  the  Indians, 
but  with  the  acts  and  continued  existence  of  the  House  of 
Burgesses.  Bacon,  meanwhile,  had  returned  successful 
from  his  expedition.  The  haughty  old  governor  was  forced 
to  yield  ;  the  obnoxious  Assembly  was  dissolved,  and  writs 
issued  for  the  election  of  members  for  another,  to  which 
Bacon  was  returned  triumphantly  from  Henrico  county. 
This  Assembly  corrected  the  evils  of  the  long  one.  The 
unjust  taxes  on  the  poor  were  removed  ;  the  privilege  of 
voting  for  their  legislators  was  restored  to  the  people,  and 
many  abuses  in  relation  to  the  expenditure  of  the  public 
money  rectified.  The  House  elected  Bacon  commander  oi 
the  army.  These  measures  were  very  distasteful  to  Berke- 
ley and  his  advisers — he  would  not  give  them  his  sanction. 
Finally,  however,  he  yielded  to  necessity  ;  and  even  went 
so  far  as  to  transmit  to  England,  his  own  and  the  council's 
commendations  of  Bacon's  loyalty  and  patriotism. 

The  Indians  still  continued  their  attacks  upon  the 
settlements,  and  Bacon  with  a  small  force  went  to  punish 
them :  again  the  insincere  Berkeley  proclaimed  him  a 
traitor.  Such  treachery  excited  his  indignation  and  that 
of  the  army.  No  confidence  could  be  placed  in  the  gov- 
ernor's word.  "  It  vexes  me  to  the  heart,"  said  the  gal* 
lant  patriot,  "  that  while  I  am  hunting  the  wolves  which 
destroy  our  lambs,  that  I  should  myself  be  pursued  like  a 
savage — the  whole  country  is  witness  to  our  peaceable 
behavior  ;  but  those  in  authority,  how  have  they  obtained 
their  estates  ?  Have  they  not  devoured  the  common  trea- 
sury ?  What  schools  of  learning  have  they  promoted  ?  " 
Such  were  the  questions  asked,  and  such  were  the  senti- 
ments that  stirred  the  hearts  of  the  people.     They  must 


/ 


JAMESTOWN    BURNED. 


141 


have  their  rights  restored  :  wives  urged  their  husbands  to   chap 
contend  for  their  liberties.  L 

Berkeley  with  a  few  royalist  followers  and  advisers,  went  1675 
to  the  eastern  shore  of  the  bay.  There  by  promises  of  plun- 
der, he  collected  a  rabble  of  sailors  belonging  to  some  Eng- 
lish vessels,  and  a  company  of  vagabond  Indians.  When  the 
rumor  of  the  governor's  intentions  spread  throughout  the 
land,  the  people  with  one  accord  met  in  convention  at  the 
Middle  Plantation,  now  Williamsburg,  where  they  deliber- 
ated all  day,  even  until  midnight.  They  decided  it  was 
their  duty  to  defend  themselves  from  the  tyranny  of  the 
governor.  They  adjourned,  however,  and  went  to  their 
homes,  determined  to  be  guided  in  their  conduct  by  the 
course  he  should  pursue.  They  were  not  long  in  suspense, 
for  Berkeley  crossed  over  with  five  ships  to  Jamestown,  to 
put  down  what  he  was  pleased  to  call  a  rebellion.  In  a  Sept 
very  short  time  the  little  army  so  successful  against  the 
Indians,  was  gathered  once  more  under  the  same  leader. 
The  conflict  was  short ;  Berkeley's  cowardly  rabble  broke 
and  fled  ;  deserting  Jamestown,  they  went  on  board  their 
ships  and  dropped  down  the  river.  The  victors  entered 
the  deserted  town.  A  council  was  held  as  to  what  was  to 
be  done.  Should  they  leave  it  as  a  place  of  defence  for 
their  enemies  ?  It  was  deemed  necessary  to  burn  it. 
Drummond  and  Lawrence,  men  prominent  in  the  popular 
movement,  applied  the  torch  to  their  own  dwellings;  the 
example  was  followed  by  others,  and,  in  a  few  hours,  the 
6rst  town  founded  by  Englishmen  on  this  continent  was  in 
ruins.  A  crumbling  church-tower  is  all  that  now  remains 
to  mark  the  site  of  old  Jamestown. 

The  good  results  of  this  struggle  were  doomed  to  be 
lost.  Bacon  suddenly  fell  ill  of  a  violent  fever,  which 
terminated  his  life  in  a  few  days.  He  was  called  a  traitor  Oct 
and  a  rebel  by  Berkeley  and  his  royalist  party,  as  was 
Washington  by  the  same  party  one  hundred  years  after- 
ward, 


142  HISTORY   OF   THE    AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

JxfrP'  ^^e  PeoP^e  were  now  without  a  leader — without  any 

one  to  plead  their  cause.     Berkeley  played  the  tyiant, 

1676.  ravaged  the  country  and  confiscated  the  property  of  the 
patriots.  He  caused  to  perish  on  the  scaffold  more  than 
twenty  of  the  best  men  of  Virginia.  One  or  two  incidents 
may  serve  to  exhibit  his  spirit.  When  Drummond  (who 
is  represented  as  a  "sober,  Scotch  gentleman,  of  good 
repute ")  was  brought  into  his  presence,  "  You  are  very 
welcome,"  said  he,  bowing  at  the  same  time,  with  mock 
civility  ;  "  I  am  more  glad  to  see  you  than  any  man  in 
Virginia  ;  you  shall  be  hanged  in  half  an  hour  I "  He 
derided,  in  vulgar  terms,  a  young  wife  who  came  to  plead 
for  her  husband,  to  take  the  blame  of  his  offence  upon 
herself,  and  to  offer  her  own  life  for  his. 

If  any  one  dared  speak  disrespectfully  of  Berkeley 
or  his  rule,  he  was  publicly  whipped.  The  end  came  at 
last ;  Berkeley  left  the  country,  and  the  people  celebrated 
his  departure  with  bonfires  and  rejoicings.  When  he 
arrived  in  England  he  found  that  public  opinion  severely 
condemned  his  conduct ;  and,  what  was  more  wounding 
to  his  pride,  even  Charles,  to  serve  whom  he  had  stained 
his  soul  with  innocent  blood,  exclaimed,  "  That  old  fool 
has  taken  away  more  lives  in  that  naked  land  than  I  for 
the  death  of  my  father ! "  The  names  and  characters  of 
Bacon  and  his  adherents  were  vilified,  and  for  a  century 
these  slanders  were  not  disproved  ;  the  truth  was  not  per- 
mitted to  be  published.  The  facts,  as  now  known,  prove 
that  the  men  who  thus  opposed  the  tyranny  of  Berkeley 
were  not  rebels  and  traitors,  but  worthy  to  be  num- 
bered among  the  patriots  of  the  land. 
ifTT.  The  first  Assembly  held  after  this  unsuccessful  strug- 

gle was  devoted  to  the  interests  of  the  aristocracy.  All 
the  liberal  laws  passed  by  the  preceding  one  were  re- 
pealed ;  henceforth  only  freeholders  could  vote  for  mem- 
bers of  the  House  of  Burgesses.     The  poor  man  was  ae 


CULPEPPER    AND    EFFINGHAM.  143 

heavily  taxed  as  the  rich,  but  unless  he  -was  a  landholder   ckap 
he  had  no  vote.  , 

The  profligate  Charles  gave  Virginia  to  two  of  his  1678 
favorites — Arlington  and  Culpepper  ;  the  latter  soon  after 
purchased  the  claim  of  the  former.  The  king  appointed  C  ul- 
pepper  governor  for  life.  He  came  authorized  to  heal  differ- 
ences between  the  people  and  the  government,  but  he  used  1680 
the  power  for  his  own  interest  alone  ;  he  valued  Virginia 
only  in  proportion  to  the  money  his  rapacity  could  extort ; 
even  the  soldiers,  sent  to  maintain  his  authority,  he  de- 
frauded of  their  wages.  When  he  had  secured  to  himself 
the  highest  possible  revenue,  he  sailed  for  England.  The 
condition  of  the  Virginians  was  wretched  in  the  extreme  ; 
the  rewards  of  their  industry  went  to  their  rapacious  rulers, 
and  they,  goaded  to  desperation,  were  on  the  point  of 
rebellion. 

Rumors  of  these  discontents  reached  England,  and  the 
truant  governor  reluctantly  left  his  pleasures  to  visit  his 
domain.  Having  the  authority  of  the  king,  Culpepper  1682. 
caused  several  men  of  influence  to  be  hanged  as  traitors. 
The  people  who  owned  farms  in  the  territory,  given  him 
by  royal  grant,  he  now  compelled  to  lose  their  estates,  or 
compromise  by  paying  money.  Charles  had  now  another 
favorite  to  provide  for ;  Culpepper  was  removed,  and  1684 
Effingham  appointed.  This  change  was  even  for  the 
worse  ;  Effingham  was  more  needy  and  more  avaricious. 

On  the  accession  of  James  II.  what  is  known  in  his- 
tory as  Monmouth's  Rebellion  occurred.  After  its  sup-  1688, 
pression,  multitudes  of  those  implicated  in  it  were  sent  to 
Virginia  and  Maryland  to  be  sold  as  servants  for  a  term 
of  ten  years.  Many  of  these  were  men  of  education  and 
of  good  families.  The  House  of  Burgesses,  to  their  hon^r 
be  it  said,  declared  these  poor  men  free,  though  the  cruel 
James  had  forbidden  the  exercise  of  such  lenity. 

So  little  were  the  claims  of  humanity  respected  at  this 
time  in  the  West  of  England,  that  it  was  a  common  occur- 


144 


HISTORY   OF   THE    AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 


CHAP. 
XII. 


renee  to  kidnap  persons  of  the  poorer  sort,  and  send  them 
to  the  colonies  to  be  sold  as  servants  for  a  term  of  years 

1685.  These  were  principally  brought  to  Virginia  and  Mary- 
land, as  there  the  planters  required  many  laborers.  The 
trade  was  profitable,  more  so  than  the  African  slave 
trade. 

1688.  'After  the  accession  of  William  and  Mary  an  effort  was 
made  to  establish  a  college  in  Virginia,  "  to  educate  a  do- 
mestic succession  of  Church  of  England  ministers,"  as  well 
as  to  teach  the  children  of  the  Indians.  The  celebrated 
Robert  Boyle  made  a  large  donation,  and  the  king  gave, 
in  addition  to  three  other  grants,  outstanding  quit-rents, 
valued  at  about  £2,000.     Such  was  the  foundation  of  the 

IW1     college  of  William  and  Mary. 

The  Rev.  James  Blair,  said  to  be  the  first  commissary 
Bent  to  the  colonies  by  the  Bishop  of  London,  "  to  supply 
the  office  and  jurisdiction  of  the  bishop  in  the  out-places 
of  the  diocese/'  was  its  president  for  fifty  years. 

Though  William  was  thus  moderately  liberal,  he  was 
by  no  means  the  representative  of  the  true  feeling  of  his 
ministry  ;  they  even  looked  upon  this  pittance  as  uncalled 
for.  Blair,  the  pious  and  energetic  Scotchman,  once  urged 
upon  Seymour,  the  attorney-general,  the  importance  of 
establishing  schools  to  educate  ministers  of  the  gospel. 
"  Consider,  sir,-'  said  he,  "  that  the  people  of  Virginia 
have  souls  to  save."  He  was  answered  by  a  profane  im- 
precation upon  their  souls,  and  told  to  "  make  tobacco." 
This  pithy  rebuff  indicated  the  spirit  and  general  policy 
of  the  home  government ;  it  valued  the  colonies  only  as  a 
source  of  wealth. 

For  many  years  voluntary  emigration  to  Virginia  almost 
ceased.  'There  were  no  inducements,  no  encouragement 
to  industry,  all  commerce  was  restricted.  The  planters 
were  at  the  mercy  of  the  English  trader  ;  he  alone  was 
permitted  to  buy  their  tobaoco  and  to  sell  them  merchan- 
dise.    The  whole  province  was  given  over  to  the  tender 


TROUBLES  IN  MARYLAND.  145 

mercies   of  royal   favorites   and   extortioners,   while   the   chap 

.                                                                                                              XII 
printing-press,  that  dread  of  tyrants,  was  still  forbidden.   — 

How  dearly  did  loyal  Virginia  pay  for  the  honor  of  being    1685. 
named  the  "  Old  Dominion  !  " 

The  struggles  of  the  people  of  Virginia  under  Bacon 
and  others,  had  an  effect  on  the  people  of  Maryland.  At 
the  death  of  Lord  Baltimore,  his  son  and  heir  assumed  the  1675. 
government,  and  ruled  with  justice  till  another  revolution 
in  England  brought  a  change.  The  deputy-governor  hesi-  1688. 
tated  to  acknowledge  William  and  Mary.  This  was  seized 
upon  by  some  restless  spirits  to  excite  discontent  in  the 
minds  of  the  people.  Among  other  absurd  stories,  it  was  said 
that  the  Catholics,  who  were  few  in  number,  were  about  to  in- 
vite the  Indians  to  aid  them  in  massacring  the  Protestants. 
At  this  time  the  Jesuits  had  excited  the  Indians  of  New 
England  and  Canada  against  the  New  England  colonies. 
This  gave  a  shadow  of  probability  to  the  charge.  Under 
the  lead  of  some  persons,  who  professed  to  be  very  zealous 
Protestants,  the  deputy-governor  was  seized,  and  a  con- 
vention called,  which  deposed  Lord  Baltimore,  and  pro- 
claimed the  people  the  true  sovereign.  Two  years  after,  1691. 
King  William,  taking  them  at  their  word,  unjustly  de- 
prived Lord  Baltimore  of  his  property,  and  made  the  colony 
a  royal  province.  The  people  now  suffered  the  penalty 
for  ill  treating  their  benevolent  proprietary.  The  king 
placed  over  them  a  royal  governor  ;  changed  their  laws  for 
the  worse  ;  established  the  Church  of  England,  and  taxed 
them  to  maintain  it ;  did  not  promote  education,  but  pro- 
hibited printing ;  discouraged  their  domestic  manufac- 
tures ;  and  finally  disfranchised  the  Catholics,  who  had 
laid  the  foundation  of  the  colony  sixty  years  before.  The 
rights  of  Lord  Baltimore  were  afterward  restored  to  his 
infant  child,  and  the  original  form  of  government  was  171* 
established.  No  colony  experienced  so  many  vicissitudes 
as  Maryland. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

COLONIZATION   OP   NEW    TORI. 

Hudson's  Discoveries. — Indian  Traffic. — Fort  on  the  lrte  of  Manhattan.— 
Walloons  the  first  Settlers. — Peter  Minuits. — The  Patroons. — Tan 
Twiller  Governor ;  his  Misrule. — Succeeded  by  Kieft. — Difficulties  with 
the  Indians. — They  seek  Protection;  their  Massacre. — Peace  con- 
cluded.— Stuyvesant  Governor. — The  Swedish  Settlement  on  the  Dela- 
ware.—Pavonia. — Threatening  Rumors. — New  Netherland  surrendered 
to  England. — New  Jersey  sold  by  the  Duke  of  York. — The  Influence  of 
the  Dutch. 

chap.  When  there  were  high  hopes  of  discovering  a  north-west 

passage  to  India,  Henry  Hudson  was  sent  in  search  of  it 

1609.  by  a  company  of  London  merchants.  He  was  unsuccess- 
ful ;  yet  his  enthusiasm  was  not  diminished  by  his  failure. 
He  requested  to  be  again  sent  on  the  same  errand,  but  the 
merchants  were  unwilling  to  incur  further  expense.  He  then 
applied  to  the  Dutch  East  India  Company ;  the  directors  of 
which,  at  Amsterdam,  furnished  him  with  a  ship,  the  Half- 
Moon,  with  liberty  to  exercise  his  own  judgment  in  the  pro- 
secution of  the  enterprise.  He  first  sailed  to  the  north-east, 
away  beyond  the  Capes  of  Norway,  as  far  as  the  ice  would 
permit.  He  saw  that  an  effort  in  that  direction  would  be 
fruitless.  He  turned  to  the  west,  crossed  the  Atlantic, 
and  coasted  along  the  continent  till  he  found  himself  op- 
posite the  Capes  of  Virginia ;  then  turning  to  the  north 
he  entered  "  a  great  bay  with  rivers,"  since  known  as  the 
Delaware  ;  still  further  north  he  passed  through  a  narrow 
channel,  and  found  himself  in  a  beautiful  bay.     Here  he 


A    CHANGE    WROUGHT.  147 

remained  some  days.     The  natives,  "  clothed  in  mantles   c*\f* 

of  feathers  and  robes   of  fur/'  visited  his  ship.     Their  1 

astonishment  was  great ;  they  thought  it  was  the  canoe  1609. 
of  the  Great  Spirit,  and  the  vhite  faces,  so  unlike  them- 
selves, were  his  servants.  Hudson  explored  the  bay,  and 
noticed  a  large  stream  flowing  from  the  north  ;  this,  thought 
he,  leads  to  the  Eastern  Seas.  That  stream,  called  by 
some  of  the  native  tribes  the  Cahohatatea,  or  River  of 
Mountains,  and  by  others  the  Shatemuc,  he  explored  for 
one  hundred  and  fifty  miles ;  it  did  not  lead  to  the 
Eastern  Seas,  yet  that  river  has  immortalized  the  name 
of  Henry  Hudson. 

What  a  change  has  come  over  the  "  River  of  Moun- 
tains n  since  he  threaded  his  way  up  its  stream  two  hun- 
dred and  eighty  years  ago !  It  has  become  the  highway 
to  the  great  inland  seas  of  a  continent,  upon  whose  bosoms 
float  the  fruits  of  the  industry  of  millions  ;  and  the  island 
at  its  mouth  the  heart  of  a  nation's  commerce,  whose  every 
throb  is  felt  throughout  that  nation's  length  and  breadth. 
From  the  highest  church-steeple,1  on  this  Isle  of  Man- 
hattan, the  eye  takes  in  a  horizon  containing  a  population 
very  much  greater  than  that  of  the  thirteen  colonies  at  the 
time  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  There  are  other 
changes  which  the  philanthropist  loves  to  contemplate. 
Here  are  seen  the  humanizing  influences  of  Christianity, 
of  civilization,  of  intelligence,  and  of  industry,  embodied 
in  institutions  of  learning,  of  science,  and  of  benevo- 
lence, that  pour  forth  their  charities  and  blessings,  not 
alone  for  this  land  but  for  others. 

The  coincidence  is  striking,  that,  nearly  at  the  same 
time,  the  representatives  of  three  nations  were  penetrating 
the  wilderness  and  approaching  each  other.  Champlain, 
on  behalf  of  France,  was  exploring  the  northern  part  of 
New  York ;  John  Smith,  one  of  the  pioneers  of  English 

Trinity. 


143  HISTORY    OF   THE  AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

CHAP,  colonization,  was  pushing  his  discoveries  up  to  the  head 

1  waters  of  the  Chesapeake,  while  the  Half-Moon  was  slowly 

1610.    sounding  her  way  up  the  Hudson. 

Hudson  arrived  safely  in  England,  but  he  was  not  per- 
mitted by  the  government  to  continue  in  the  service  of  the 
Dutch,  lest  they  should  derive  advantage  in  trade  from  his 
discoveries.  However,  he  found  means  to  transmit  to  his 
employers  at  Amsterdam,  an  account  of  his  voyage.  On:e 
more  he  sailed  under  the  patronage  of  some  English  mer- 
chants. He  passed  through  the  straits  into  the  bay  known 
by  his  name;  groped  among  a  multitude  of  islands  till  late 
in  the  season,  and  then  determined  to  winter  there,  and  in 
the  spring  continue  his  search  for  the  wished-for  passage. 
When  spring  came  his  provisions  were  nearly  exhausted  ; 
it  was  impossible  to  prosecute  his  design.  With  tears  of 
disappointment  he  gave  orders  to  turn  the  prow  of  his  ves- 
sel homeward.  A  day  or  two  afterward  his  crew  mutinied. 
They  seized  him,  put  him,  with  his  son  and  seven  seamen, 
four  of  whom  were  ill,  on  board  the  shallop,  and  inhumanly 
left  them  to  perish.  "  The  gloomy  waste  of  waters  which 
bears  his  name,  is  his  tomb  and  his  monument." 

Hudson,  in  his  communication  to  his  employers, 
described  the  extensive  region  he  had  discovered  as  well 
watered  by  rivers,  and  as  lying  around  bays  and  inlets  ;  as 
covered  with  forests  abounding  in  the  finest  timber  for 
ship-building  ;  and  as  "  a  land  as  beautiful  as  ever  man 
trod  upon/'  The  numerous  tribes  of  Indians  who  met 
him  in  friendship,  and  the  multitudes  of  beaver  and  otter , 
gave  indication  also  of  a  profitable  trade. 

The  next  year  a  ship  was  sent  to  trade  ;  the  traffic  was 
profitable^  and  was  still  further  prosecuted.  In  a  few 
years  there  were  forts  or  trading  houses  on  the  river,  as  far 
up  as  Fort  Orange,  since  Albany.  A  rude  fort  at  the 
1614  lower  end  of  Manhattan  island  was  the  germ  of  the  present 
city  of  New  York      The  Dutch  during:  this  time  wer« 


EMIGRATION   ENCOURAGED.  149 

busy  exploring  the  waters  from  the  Delaware  to  Cape   c*lap. 

Cod.     They  were  as  yet  but  a  company  of  traders  ;   no  L. 

emigrants  had  left  Holland  with  the  intention  of  making    1614. 
a  permanent  settlement. 

A  company  was  formed,  under  the  title  of  the  Dutch  1621. 
West  India  Company ;  an  association  for  the  purpose  of 
trade  only.  They  took  possession  of  the  territory  as  tem- 
porary occupants  ;  if  they  grew  rich  they  were  indifferent 
as  to  other  matters ;  they  had  no  promise  of  protection 
from  Holland,  and  as  a  matter  of  policy  they  were  peace- 
ful. The  States-General  granted  them  the  monopoly  of 
trade  from  Cape  May  to  Nova  Scotia,  and  named  the 
entire  territory  New  Netherland.  The  claims  of  the  Eng- 
lish, French,  and  Dutch  thus  overlapped  each  other,  and 
led  to  "  territorial  disputes,  national  rivalries,  religious 
antipathies,  and  all  the  petty  hatreds  and  jealousies  of 
trade." 

About  thirty  families,  Walloons  or  French  Protestants, 
who  had  fled  to  Holland  to  avoid  persecution,  were  the 
first  to  emigrate  with  the  intention  of  remaining.  Some 
of  these  settled  in  the  vicinity  of  what  is  now  the  Navy 
Yard  in  Brooklyn,  others  went  up  the  river  to  Fort  162e 
Orange. 

The  central  position  of  the  island  of  Manhattan  ob- 
tained for  it  the  honor  of  being  chosen  as  the  residence  of 
the  agent  for  the  company.  Peter  Minuits  was  appointed 
such,  under  the  title  of  governor,  and  the  few  cottages  at 
the  south  end  of  the  island  were  dignified  with  the  name  of 
New  Amsterdam.  The  island  itself  belonged  exclusively 
to  the  company,  and  was  purchased  from  the  Indians  for 
about  twenty-four  dollars.  Effort  was  now  made  to  found 
a  State.  Every  person  who  should  emigrate  had  the.privi- 
lege  of  owning  as  much  land  as  he  could  properly  culti- 
vate, provided  it  was  not  on  lands  especially  claimed  by 
the  company.  To  encourage  emigration,  it  was  ordered 
that  any  member  of  the  company  who  in  four  years  should 


150  HISTORY   m  THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

CHAP,   induce  fifty  persons  to  settle  anywhere  in  New  Nether- 

1  land,  except  on  the  island  of  Manhattan,  should  be  recog- 

1625.  nised  as  "  Patroon,"  or  "  Lord  of  the  Manor."  Under 
this  arrangement  "Patroons"  could  purchase  a  tract  of 
land  sixteen  miles  long  by  eight  in  width.  They  secured 
to  themselves,  by  purchase  from  the  Indians,  the  most 
valuable  lands  and  places  for  trade.  The  less  rich  were 
by  necessity  compelled  to  become  tenants  of  the  Patroons. 
The  people,  thus  deprived  of  that  independence  which  is 
essential  to  the  progress  of  any  community,  took  but  little 
interest  in  cultivating  the  soil,  or  in  improving  the 
country. 

The  company,  for  the  sake  of  gain,  determined,  even  at 
the  expense  of  the  prosperity  of  the  colonists,  to  make 
New  Amsterdam  the  centre  of  the  trade  of  New  Nether- 
land.  Under  the  penalty  of  banishment  the  people  were 
forbidden  to  manufacture  the  most  common  fabrics  for 
clothing.  No  provision  was  made  for  the  education  of  the 
young,  or  the  preaching  of  the  gospel ;  although  it  was 
enjoined  upon  the  Patroons  to  provide  "  a  minister  and  a 
schoolmaster, "  or  at  least  a  "  comforter  of  the  sick,"  whose 
duty  it  should  be  to  read  to  the  people  texts  of  Scripture 
and  the  creeds.  The  company  also  agreed,  if  the  specu- 
lation should  prove  profitable,  to  furnish  the  Patroons  with 
African  slaves. 

As  Hudson  had  discovered  Delaware  bay  and  river,  the 
Dutch  claimed  the  territory.  Samuel  Godyn  purchased 
from  the  Indians  all  their  lands  from  Cape  Henlopen  to 
1629.  the  mouth  of  the  Delaware  river.  Two  years  after  this 
thirty  colonists  arrived,  fully  prepared  to  found  a  settle- 
ment. When  De  Vries,  who  was  to  be  Patroon  and  com- 
mander, 'came  the  next  year,  he  found  not  a  vestige  of 
the  settlement ;  all  had  perished  by  the  hands  of  the 
savages. 

After  the  resignation  of  Minuits,  Walter  Van  Twiller 
through  the  "  influence  of  kinsmen  and  friends/'  was  ap< 


WILLIAM   KIEFT    GOVERNOR.  151 

pointed  governor.     He   proved  himself  unfitted  for   the   C**A.P 
station.     As  a  clerk,  he  was  acquainted  with  the  mere  . 

routine  of  business,  but  ignorant  of  human  nature  ;  as  con-  1638. 
ceited  as  he  was  deficient  in  judgment  and  prudence, 
he  failed  to  secure  the  respect  of  those  he  governed. 
In  his  zeal  for  the  interests  of  his  employers,  he  neglected 
the  rights  of  the  people,  and  was  so  inconsistent  in  the 
management  of  public  affairs  that  Dominie  Bogardus  sent 
him  a  letter  of  severe  reproof,  threatening  to  give  him 
"  such  a  shake  from  the  pulpit  on  the  following  Sunday  1688, 
as  would  make  him  shudder." 

The  inefficient  Van  T wilier  was  succeeded  by  William 
Kieft.  Though  he  had  not  the  same  defects  as  Van 
Twiller,  his  appointment  was  a  most  unfortunate  event  for 
the  colony.  A  bankrupt  in  Holland,  his  portrait  was 
affixed  to  the  gallows  ;  an  evidence  of  the  estimation  in 
which  his  character  was  held.  Avaricious  and  unscrupu- 
lous, so  arbitrary  in  his  measures  that  during  his  rule  the 
colony  was  in  a  continual  turmoil,  he  quarrelled  with  the 
Swedes  on  the  Delaware,  had  difficulties  with  the  Eng- 
lish in  New  England,  made  the  Indians  his  enemies,  and 
had  scarcely  a  friend  in  his  own  colony. 

The  Dutch  were  on  friendly  terms  with  the  Indians 
during  the  rule  of  Van  Twiller.  It  was  forbidden  by  law 
to  sell  them  fire-arms  ;  but  the  traders  up  the  river,  indif- 
ferent to  the  interests  of  the  settlers,  sold  them  guns  to 
such  an  extent,  that  at  one  time  more  than  four  hundred 
of  the  Mohawks,  or  Iroquois,  were  armed  with  muskets. 
By  this  means  these  terrible  marauders  and  despots  of  the 
wilderness  were  rendered  more  haughty  and  dangerous. 
They  paid  enormous  prices  for  guns,  that  they  might  be 
able  to  meet  their  enemies  the  Canadian  Indians,  who 
were  supplied  with  fire-arms  by  the  French.  Though 
the  traders  did  not  sell  guns  to  the  tribes  living  near  New 
Amsterdam  and  on  the  river,  yet  they  sold  them  rum. 

Kieft  pretended  that  the  company  had  ordered  him  to 


152  HISTORY  OF  THE  AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

CHAP-   levy  an  annual  tribute  upon  the  river  Indians— the  Mo- 

1  hegans  and  other  clans  of  the  Algonquin  race.     They  re- 

1688.  fused  to  pay  any  tribute,  saying  he  "  was  a  shabby  fellow 
to  come  and  live  on  their  lands  without  being  invited,  and 
then  want  to  take  away  their  corn  for  nothing."  Such 
injustice,  with  the  partiality  shown  to  their  enemies,  the 
Mohawks,  gradually  alienated  their  feelings  of  friendship 
for  the  Dutch. 

An  act  of  Kieft  awoke  the  slumbering  anger  of  the 
savages.  The  Karitans,  a  tribe  living  on  the  river  which 
bears  their  name,  were  accused  of  stealing  hogs,  which 
had  been  taken  by  some  Dutch  traders.  Kieft  did  not 
inquire  into  the  truth  of  the  charge,  but  sent  soldiers  to 
punish  them,  who  destroyed  their  corn  and  killed  some  of 
their  number.  De  Vries,  who,  in  the  mean  time,  hac 
planted  a  settlement  on  Staten  Island,  was  himself  a 
friend  of  the  Indians.  The  Karitans  attacked  this  settle- 
1641.  ment  and  killed  four  men.  The  people  now  urged  the 
governor  to  conciliate  the  savages,  but  without  effect. 
Twenty  years  before  a  chieftain  had  been  killed  by  a  Dutch 
hunter  in  the  presence  of  his  nephew,  then  a  little  boy ; 
that  boy,  now  a  man,  according  to  their  custom,  avenged 
the  death  of  his  uncle  by  murdering  an  innocent  Dutch- 
man. Kieft  demanded  that  the  young  man  should  be 
given  up  to  him,  to  be  punished  as  a  murderer.  The 
tribe  would  not  comply  with  the  demand,  but  offered  to 
pay  the  price  of  blood.  The  violent  governor  refused  any 
such  compromise. 
1642  With  his  permission  a  meeting  of  the  heads  of  fami- 

lies was  called.  They  chose  twelve  of  their  number  to 
investigate  the  affairs  of  the  colony.  They  passed  very 
soon  from  the  Indian  difficulties  to  other  abuses  ;  even  to 
the  despotic  actions  of  the  governor  himself.  As  the 
"  twelve  men  "  refused  to  be  controlled  by  Kieft,  but  per- 
fevered  in  expressing  their  opinions  of  his  conduct,  he 


MASSACBE   OF    THE   INDIANS.  153 

dissolved  the  Assembly.     Thus  ended  the  first  representa-   chai 
tive  Assembly  in  New  Netherland.  

Nearly  all  the  difficulties  with  the  Indians  may  be  164* 
traced  to  some  injustice  practised  upon  them  by  the 
whites.  An  instance  of  this  kind  now  occurred  which  led 
to  direful  results.  A  Dutchman  sold  a  young  Indian,  the 
son  of  a  chief,  brandy,  and  when  he  was  intoxicated, 
cheated  and  drove  him  away.  The  Indian,  raging  with 
drink,  and  maddened  by  the  treatment  he  had  received, 
went  to  his  home,  obtained  his  bow  and  arrows,  returned 
and  shot  the  Dutchman  dead.  The  chiefs  of  the  murder- 
er's tribe  hastened  to  the  governor  to  explain  the  matter, 
and  to  pay  the  price  of  blood ;  they  wished  for  peace  ;  but 
the  governor  was  inexorable.  He  demanded  the  murderer  ; 
but  he  had  fled  to  a  neighboring  tribe.  "  It  is  your  own 
fault ! "  exclaimed  the  indignant  chiefs ;  "  why  do  you 
sell  brandy  to  our  young  men  ?  it  makes  them  crazy  ; — 
your  own  people  get  drunk,  and  fight  with  knives." 

Just  at  this  time  came  a  company  of  eighty  Mohawks, 
all  armed  with  muskets,  to  demand  tribute  of  the  enfee- 
bled River  Tribes.  The  latter  fled  to  the  Dutch  for  pro- 
tection. Now  is  the  time,  urged  the  people,  to  obtain 
forever  the  friendship  of  the  Indians  living  around  us,  by 
rescuing  them  from  the  rapacious  Mohawks.  Now  is  the 
time,  thought  the  stubborn  and  cruel  Kieft,  to  extermi- 
nate those  who  have  fled  to  me  for  safety. 

"  If  you  murder  these  poor  creatures  who  have  put 
themselves  under  your  protection,  you  will  involve  the 
whole  colony  in  ruin,  and  their  blood,  and  the  blood  of 
your  own  people,  will  be  required  at  your  hands  ! "  urged 
the  kind-hearted  De  Vries.  The  admonition  was  un- 
heeded. 

The  unsuspecting  victims  of  this  scheme  of  treachery 
and  barbarous  cruelty  were  with  the  tribe  of  Hacken- 
sacks,  just  beyond  Hoboken.      About  the  hour  of  mid-    Feb., 
night  the  soldiers  from  the  fort,  and  some  freebooters  from    lW8 


154  HISTORY  OF  THE   AMERICAN"   PEOPLE. 

chap,    the  ships  in  the  harbor,  passed  over  the  river.     Soon  were 

1  heard  the  shrieks  of  the  dying  Indians  ; — the  carnage 

1648.  continued,  the  poor  victims  ran  to  the  river,  to  pass  over 
to  their  supposed  friends  in  New  Amsterdam.  But  they 
were  driven  into  the  water  ;  the  mother,  who  rushed  to 
save  her  drowning  child,  was  pushed  in,  that  both  might 
perish  in  the  freezing  flood.  These  were  not  the  only 
victims.  Another  company  of  Indians,  trusting  to  the 
Dutch  for  protection,  were  encamped  on  the  island,  but  a 
short  distance  from  the  fort.  They  were  nearly  all  mur- 
dered in  the  same  manner.  In  the  morning  the  returning 
soldiers  received  the  congratulations  of  Kieft.  When  the 
people  learned  of  the  massacre  they  were  filled  with  hor- 
ror at  its  atrocity,  and  expressed  their  detestation  of  its 
author,  and  their  fears  that  all  the  Indians  in  their  neigh- 
borhood would  become  their  deadly  enemies.  The  guilty 
Kieft  cowered  before  the  storm  ;  it  would  have  been  well 
if  the  only  effects  of  his  acts  had  been  the  reproaches  of 
the  people. 

When  it  became  known  that  it  was  not  their  enemies 
the  Mohawks,  but  their  pretended  friends  the  Dutch,  who 
had  wantonly  killed  their  countrymen,  the  rage  of  the 
River  Tribes  knew  no  bounds.  They  rose  as  one  man  to 
take  revenge.  Every  nook  and  corner,  every  swamp  and 
thicket,  became  an  ambush  for  the  enraged  savages  The 
.  settlements  up  the  river  were  destroyed.  On  Long  Island, 
on  Staten  Island,  the  retribution  fell ;  all  around  Man- 
hattan the  smoke  of  burning  dwellings  arose  to  heaven. 
The  people  at  a  distance  from  the  fort  were  either  mur- 
dered or  taken  captive,  especially  the  women  and  chil- 
dren. All  who  could  deserted  their  homes,  and  sought 
safety  in  the  fort  at  Manhattan  ;  many  of  whom  after- 
ward left  for  Holland. 

A  pleasing  incident  is  related  of  Indian  gratitude. 
De  Vries  had,  on  that  fearful  night,  rescued  an  Indian 
and  his  wife  from  death.    When  his  settlement  on  Staten 


A  TEMPORARY  TRUCE. 


155 


Island  was  attacked,  this  Indian  hastened  to  his  country-   crap 

men  who  were  hesieging  the  people  in  the  "block-house,   1 

and  told  them  how  he  and  his  wife  had  been  rescued.    The    164& 
besiegers  immediately  told  the  people  they  would  molest 
them  no  more  ;  and  they  kept  their  word. 

A  temporary  truce  was  made  at  Kockaway  on  Long  Sept 
Island.  The  chiefs  of  a  number  of  tribes  agreed  to  meet 
the  messengers  of  the  Dutch,  and  treat  of  peace.  De 
Vries,  whom  the  Indians  knew  to  be  their  friend,  went 
with  two  others  to  the  interview.  "When  the  conference 
was  opened  one  of  the  chiefs  arose,  having  in  his  hand  a 
number  of  little  sticks;  taking  one,  he  commenced :  "When 
you  first  came  to  our  shores  you  wanted  food  ;  we  gave 
you  our  beans  and  our  corn,  and  now  you  murder  our 
people."  He  took  another  stick  :  "  The  men  whom  your 
first  ships  left  to  trade,  we  guarded  and  fed ;  we  gave 
them  our  daughters  for  wives  ;  some  of  those  whom  you 
murdered  were  of  your  own  blood."  Many  sticks  still  re- 
mained, but  the  envoys  did  not  wish  to  hear  a  further  re- 
cital of  wrongs.  They  proposed  that  they  should  both 
forget  the  past,  and  now  make  peace  forever.  Peace  was 
made.  It  was  not  satisfactory  to  the  young  warriors  ;  they 
thought  "the  bloody  men,"  as  they  now  called  the 
Dutch,  had  not  paid  the  full  price  of  the  lives  they  had 
taken  ;  and  war  broke  forth  again.  Now  the  leader  of 
the  Dutch  was  Captain  John  Underhill,  who  had  had  ex- 
perience in  the  Pequod  war  in  New  England.  For  two 
years  the  Indians  were  hunted  from  swamp  to  swamp, 
through  winter  and  summer ;  yet  they  were  not  sub- 
dued. They  lay  in  ambush  round  the  settlements,  and 
picked  off  the  husbandman  from  his  labor,  and  carried 
into  captivity  his  wife  and  children.  There  was  no  security 
from  the  midnight  attack ;  scarcely  any  corn  was  planted ; 
famine  and  utter  ruin  stared  the  colony  in  the  face. 

Sixteen  hundred  of  the  Indians  had  been  killed,  and  the 
number  of  white  people  was  so  much  reduced,  that,  besides 


156  HISTORY  OF  THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE. 

chap,   traders,  there  were  not  more  than  one  hundred  jersons  on 

1  the  Isle  of  Manhattan.     What  a  ruin  had  been  wrought 

1648.    by  the  wicked  perverseness  of  one  man  ! 

At  length  both  parties  became  weary  of  war.  The 
chieftains  of  the  tribes  around  New  Amsterdam,  and,  as 
mediators,  a  deputation  from  their  ancient  enemies  the 
Mohawks,  met  the  deputies  of  the  Dutch  beneath  the 
open  sky,  on  the  place  now  known  as  the  Battery,  in  New 
York  city,  and  there  concluded  a  peace. 

1646.  Thanksgivings  burst  forth  from  the  people  at   the 

prospect  of  returning  safety.  There  was  no  consolation 
for  Kieft ;  he  was  justly  charged  by  them  with  being  the 
cause  of  all  their  misfortunes.  The  company  censured 
him,  and  disclaimed  his  barbarous  conduct.  He  was 
without  a  friend  in  the  colony.  After  two  years,  with  his 
ill-gotten  gains,  he  sailed  for  his  native  land.  The  vessel 
was  wrecked  on  the  coast  of  Wales,  and,  with  many  others, 

\646.    he  was  lost. 

In  the  midst  of  all  these  difficulties  there  were  those 
who  labored  to  instruct  the  poor  heathen  Indians  of  New 
Netherland.  Several  years  before  the  missionary  Eliot 
commenced  his  labors  with  the  tribes  near  Boston,  Mega- 
polensis,  the  Dutch  clergyman  at  Fort  Orange,  endeavored 
to  teach  the  Mohawks  the  truths  of  the  gospel.  He  strove 
to  learn  their  language,  that  he  might  "  speak  and  preach 
to  them  fluently,"  but  without  much  success  ;  their  lan- 
guage was,  as  he  expressed  it,  so  "heavy."  The  grave 
warriors  would  listen  respectfully  when  told  to  renounce 
certain  sins,  but  they  would  immediately  ask  why  white 
men  committed  the  same.  Efforts  were  made  afterward 
to  instruct  in  Christianity  the  tribes  around  Manhattan, 
but  the  gtood  work  was  neutralized  by  other  and  evil  in- 
fluences. 

The  West  India  Company  appointed  Peter  Stuyvesant 
io  succeed  Kieft  as  governor.  He  had  been  accustomed 
to  military  rule,  and  was  exceedingly  arbitrary  in  his  gov* 


THE  SWEDES  ON  THE  DELAWARE.  157 

ernment ;   honest  in  his  endeavors  to  fulfil  his  trust  to  the  chap. 
company,  he  also  overlooked  the  rights  of  the  people.     He    XIIL 
thought  their  duty  was  to  pursue  their  business,  and  pay    lfi4fi 
their  taxes,  and  not  trouble  their  brains  about  his  man- 
ner  of   government.     The    colony    was    well-nigh   ruined 
when  Stuy vesant  came  into  power ;   for  nearly  five  years 
the  dark  cloud  of  war  had  been  hanging  over  it.     The  In- 
dians  had     been   dealt   with   harshly  and   treacherously; 
policy  as  well  as  mercy  demanded  that  they  should  be 
treated  leniently.     The  company  desired  peace  with  the 
various   tribes,  for   the   success  of   trade   depended  upon 
their  good-will. 

Although  the  Dutch  claimed  the  territory  from  Cape 
Cod  to  the  Capes  of  Virginia,  they  preferred  to  negotiate 
with  New  England,  and  desired  that  the  wars  between 
their  mother  countries  in  the  Old  World  should  not  dis- 
turb the  harmony  of  the  New. 

It  must  be  confessed  that  the  Connecticut  people 
annoyed  Stuyvesant  exceedingly.  The  absurd  stories  told 
by  the  wily  Mohegan  chief,  Uncas,  of  the  Dutch  con- 
spiring with  the  Narragansets  to  cut  off  the  English,  found 
a  too  ready  credence ;  so  ready  as  to  leave  the  impression 
that  such  stories  were  rather  welcome  than  otherwise,  pro- 
vided they  furnished  an  excuse  for  encroaching  upon 
the  territory  of  the  Dutch.  When  accused  of  this  con- 
spiracy, said  a  sachem  of  the  Narragansets,  "I  am  poor, 
but  no  present  can  make  me  an  enemy  of  the  English ! " 

We  have  now  to  speak  of  others  settling  on  territory 
claimed  by  the  Dutch.  Gustavus  Adolphus,  the  King  of 
Sweden,  was  induced  to  engage  in  sending  a  colony  to  the 
New  World.  He  wished  to  found  an  asylum  to  which 
Protestants  of  Europe  could  flee.  Peter  Minuits,  who  has 
already  been  mentioned,  as  commercial  agent  at  New 
Amsterdam,  offered  his  services  to  lead  the  company  of 
emigrants.  The  same  year  that  Kieft  came  as  governor 
to  New  Amsterdam,  Minuits  landed  on  the  shores  of  the 


158  HISTORY  OF  THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE. 

<g£P.  Delaware  with  a  company  of  emigrants,  about  fifty  in  nam 
ber.     They  purchased  from  the  Indians  the  territory  on 


1638.  the  west  side  of  the  bay  and  river  from  Cape  Henlopen 
to  the  falls  at  Trenton.  This  was  very  nearly  the  soil  01 
the  present  State  of  Delaware.  Nearly  all  this  territory 
had  been  purchased  some  years  before  by  the  Dutch,  who 
looked  upon  the  Swedes  as  intruders.  The  latter  built  a  fort 
and  a  church  on  the  site  of  Wilmington,  and  named  the 
country  New  Sweden.  The  Dutch  protested,  but  the 
Swedes  went  quietly  to  work,  and  increased  from  year  to 
year  by  accessions  from  their  native  land.  For  years  the 
disputes  between  the  two  colonies  continued ;  at  length 
Stuyvesant,  obeying  the  orders  of  the  company,  determined 
to  make  the  Swedes  submit  to  Dutch  rule.     The  former, 

1655.  m  surrendering,  were  to  lose  none  of  their  rights  as  citi- 
zens. Thus,  after  an  existence  of  seventeen  years,  the 
Swedish  colony  passed  under  the  sway  of  the  Dutch. 
Many  of  them  became  dissatisfied  with  the  arbitrary  acts 
of  their  rulers,  and  from  time  to  time  emigrated  to  Vir- 
ginia and  Maryland. 

What  is  now  New  Jersey  was  also  included  in  the  ter- 
ritory claimed  by  the  Dutch.  They  built  a  fort,  a  short 
distance    below    Camden,   which    they   named    Nassau. 

16*8.  Michael  Pauw  bought  of  the  Indians  Staten  Island,  and 
all  the  land  extending  from  Hoboken  to  the  river  Karitan. 
He  named  the  territory  Pavonia.  Meanwhile  the  Swedes 
passed  over  to  the  east  side  of  Delaware  bay,  and  estab- 
lished trading-houses  from  Cape  May  to  Burlington. 

Manhattan  in  the  meanwhile  was  gaining  numbers  by 
emigration.  The  stern  Stuyvesant  was  sometimes  intol- 
erant, but  the  company  wished  the  people  to  enjoy  the 
rights  of  conscience.  They  wished  New  Amsterdam  to  be 
as  liberal  to  the  exile  for  religion's  sake  as  was  its  name- 
sake in  the  Old  World.  Every  nation  in  Europe  had 
here  its  representatives.  It  was  remarked  "  that  the  in- 
habitants were  of  different  sects  and  nations,  and   that 


DISCONTENTS   OF    THE    PEOPLE. 


lea- 


ther- spoke  many  different  languages."     The  public  docu-  chap 

ments  were  issued  sometimes  in  Dutch,  sometimes  in  Eng-  

lish,  and  sometimes  in  French.  Two  centuries  ago  it  was 
prophesied  that  here  would  be  centred  the  commerce  of  165& 
the  world.  Time  is  realizing  the  prediction.  To  pro- 
mote emigration  the  mechanic  had  his  passage  given  him. 
The  poor  persecuted  Waldenses  came  from  their  native 
valleys  and  mountains  at  the  expense  of  the  old  city  of 
Amsterdam.  Africa,  too,  had  her  representatives.  Her 
sons  and  daughters  were  brought  as  slaves  at  the  charge 
of  the  West  India  Company;  and  the  city  of  Amsterdam, 
in  this  case  also,  shared  the  expense  and  the  profit. 

The  spirit  of  democracy  began  to  pervade  the  minds 
of  the  Dutch  ;  the  credit  of  this  has  been  given  to  the 
New  Englanders,  who  were  continually  enlightening  them 
on  the  subject  of  the  freedom  of  Englishmen.  This 
annoyed  Stuyvesant  beyond  endurance.  He  often  ex- 
pressed his  contempt  for  the  "wavering  multitude  ;"  he 
despised  the  people,  and  scoffed  at  the  idea  that  they 
could  govern  themselves  :  it  was  their  duty  to  work,  and 
not  discuss  the  mysteries  of  government.  They  had  no 
voice  in  the  choice  of  their  rulers,  and  were  even  forbidden 
to  hold  meetings  to  talk  of  their  affairs.  Stuyvesant 
finally  consented  to  let  them  hold  a  convention  of  two 
delegates  from  each  settlement ;  but  as  soon  as  these  dele- 
gates began  to  discuss  his  conduct  as  governor,  he  dis- 
solved the  convention,  bluntly  telling  them  he  derived  his 
authority  from  the  company,  and  not  from  "  a  few  ignorant 
subjects."  When  a  citizen,  in  a  case  in  which  he  thought 
himself  aggrieved,  threatened  to  appeal  to  the  States- 
General  of  Holland,  "  If  you  do,"  said  the  angry  gov- 
ernor, "I  will  make  you  a  foot  shorter  than  you  are." 
When  the  day  of  trial  came,  Stuyvesant  found  that  by 
Buch  despotic  measures  he  had  lost  the  good-will  of  the 
people  of  every  class  and  nation. 

Kumors  were  now  rife  that  the  English  were  about  tc 


1664. 


160  HISTORY  OF  THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE. 

chap,  subdue  New  Netherland.  The  people  for  the  most  part 
XIIL  were  indifferent;  they  had  now  no  civil  rights,  and  to 
them  the  change  might  be  for  the  better;  it  was  not 
probable  that  it  would  be  for  the  worse.  The  English 
portion  longed  for  the  rights  of  Englishmen.  Though 
there  had  been  war  between  England  and  Holland,  the 
people  of  Virginia  and  New  England,  except  perhaps  those 
of  Connecticut,  were  well-disposed  toward  the  Dutch  as 
neighbors. 

Stuyvesant  was  soon  relieved  of  his  troubles  with  the 
people  of  Manhattan.  Charles  II.,  without  regard  to  the 
rights  of  Holland,  with  whom  he  was  at  peace,  or  to  the 
rights  of  the  people  of  Connecticut  under  their  charter, 
gave  to  his  brother,  the  Duke  of  York,  the  entire  country 
from  the  Connecticut  to  the  Delaware.  The  first  intima- 
tion Stuyvesant  had  of  this  intended  robbery,  was  the  pres- 
ence of  a  fleet,  under  Eichard  Nicholls,  sent  to  put  in 
execution  the  orders  of  the  English  king.  The  fleet  had 
brought  to  Boston  the  commissioners  for  New  England,  and 
there  received  recruits,  and  sailed  for  New  Amsterdam. 
All  was  in  confusion ;  Stuyvesant  wished  to  make  resist- 
ance, but  the  people  were  indifferent.  What  was  to  be 
done?  The  fleet  was  in  the  bay,  and  the  recruits  from 
New  England  had  just  pitched  their  tents  in  Brooklyn: 
Long  Island  was  already  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy. 
Nicholls  sent  Stuyvesant  a  letter  requiring  him  to  surren- 
der his  post,  which  the  valiant  governor  refused  to  do  with- 
out a  struggle.  A  meeting  of  the  principal  inhabitants 
was  called;  they  very  properly  asked  for  the  letter  which 
the  governor  had  received  from  the  English  admiral.  They 
wished  to  know  the  terms  he  offered  to  induce  them  to 
acknowledge  English  authority.  Eather  than  send  the 
letter  to  be  read  to  the  "wavering  multitude,"  the  angry 
Stuyvesant  tore  it  to  pieces.  Instead,  therefore,  of  prepar- 
ing to  defend  themselves  against  the  enemy,  the  people 
protested  against   the  arbitrary  conduct  of  the  governor. 


THE    INFLUENCE    OF    THE    DUTCH.  16] 

At  length  the  capitulation  was  made,  on  the  condition  that  chap 
the  people  should  be  protected  in  their  rights  and  property,  I  ' 
religion  and  institutions.  Se 

In  a  few*  days  Fort  Orange  surrendered ;   and  in  a  few    1664. 
weeks  the  Dutch  and  the  Swedes  on  the  shores  of  the  Dela- 
ware  passed  under   the   rule  of  England.     Nicholls  was 
appointed  governor.     New  Amsterdam  was  to  be  hereafter 
known  as  New  York,  and  Fort  Orange  as  Albany. 

A  treaty  was  also  made  with  the  Mohawks :  they  had 
been  the  friends  of  the  Dutch,  and  they  now  became  the 
friends  of  the  English,  and  remained  so  in  all  their  contests, 
both  with  the  French,  and  the  Colonies  during  the  revolu- 
tion. They  served  as  a  bulwark  against  incursions  from 
Canada.  Their  hatred  of  the  French  was  intense.  They 
said,  the  Canada  Indians  never  invaded  their  territory 
unaccompanied  by  a  "  skulking  "  Frenchman. 

England  and  Holland  were  soon  at  war  again ;  and  sud- 
denly a  Dutch  squadron  anchored  in  the  bay,  and  demand- 
ed the  surrender  of  the  colony.  Thus  the  territory  became 
New  Netherland  once  more. 

In  a  little  more  than  a  year  peace  was  made,  and  the 
province  was  restored  to  England.  Thus  after  half  a  cen- 
tury, the  rule  of  the  Dutch  passed  away,  but  not  their 
influence — it  still  remains  to  bless.  The  struggles  of  their 
fathers  in  Holland  in  the  cause  of  civil  and  religious  free- 
dom, are  embalmed  in  the  history  of  the  progress  of  the 
Imman  mind.  In  their  principles  tolerant,  in  religion 
Protestant,  a  nation  of  merchants  and  manufacturers, 
laborious  and  frugal,  they  acquired  a  fame  as  wide  as  the 
world  for  the  noble  virtue  of  honesty.  Defenders  of  the 
right,  they  were  brave,  bold,  and  plain  spoken;  they  were 
peaceful;  they  were  justly  celebrated  for  their  moral  and 
domestic  virtues :  nowhere  was  the  wife,  the  mother,  the 
sister  more  honored  and  cherished.  Such  were  the  ances- 
try and  such  the  traditions  of  the  people  just  come  under 
British  rule.     A  little  more  than  a  century  elapsed,  and 


162  HISTOET   OF  THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

Cxm  *    their  descendants,  with  scarcely  an  exception,  took  their 

places  with  the  lovers  of  their  country  in  the  struggle  for 

1664.    independence. 

The  change  of  rulers  was  not  beneficial  to  the  people  ; 
the  promises  made  to  them  were  not  kept ;  their  taxes 
were  increased  ;  the  titles  to  their  lands  were  even  called 
in  question,  that  the  rapacious  governors  might  reap  a  har- 
vest of  fees  for  giving  new  ones.  It  was  openly  avowed  by 
the  unprincipled  Lovelace,  the  successor  of  Nicholls,  that 
the  true  way  to  govern  was  by  severity ;  to  impose  taxes  so 

1667.  heavy  that  the  people  should  have  "  liberty  for  no  thought 
but  how  to  discharge  them."  When  the  people  respect- 
fully petitioned  in  relation  to  their  grievances,  their  petition 
was  burned  by  the  hangman  before  the  town-hall  in  New 
York,  by  order  of  the  same  Lovelace.  The  same  species 
of  tyranny  was  exercised  over  the  colonists  on  the  Dela- 
ware. 

The  Duke  of  York  sold  to  Lord  Berkeley,  brother  of  Sir 
William  Berkeley,  governor  of  Virginia,  and  Sir  George 
Carteret,  the  soil  of  New  Jersey.  They  made  liberal  offers 
to  emigrants  to  settle  in  the  territory,  promising  to  collect 
no  rents  for  five  years.  Many  families  were  induced  to 
come  from  Long  Island.  Their  principal  settlement  was 
1670.  named,  in  honor  of  Carteret's  wife,  Elizabethtown.  All 
went  smoothly  till  pay-day  came,  and  then  those  colonists 
who  had  lived  under  Dutch  rule  refused  to  pay.  They 
contended  that  they  had  bought  their  lands  from  the  In- 
dians, the  original  owners  of  the  soil,  and  that  Carteret  had 
no  claim  to  rent  because  the  king  had  given  him  a  grant 
of  land  which  did  not  belong  to  him.  Others  said  they 
derived  no  benefit  from  the  proprietary,  and  why  should 
.they  pay* him  quit-rents  ? 

The  Duke  of  York  had  but  little  regard  to  the  rights 

1674.    of  Carteret  or  Berkeley;  he  appointed  Andros,  "  the  tyrant 

of  New  England/'  governor  of  the  colony      Berkeley,  dis- 


SCOTCH  PRESBYTERIANS  IN  EAST  JERSEY.  163 

gusted  by  such  treatment,  sold  what  was  called  West  H5J? 

Jersey  to  Edward  Byllinge,  an  English  Quaker,  who  in  a  , 

short  time  transferred  his  claim  to  William  Penn  and  two  1674. 
others,  who  afterward  made  an  arrangement  with  Carteret 
to  divide  the  territory.  Penn  and  his  associates  taking 
West  Jersey,  and  Carteret  retaining  East  Jersey,  the  line 
of  division  being  drawn  from  the  ocean,  at  Little  Egg 
Harbor,  to  the  north-western  corner  of  the  province. 

Episcopacy  having  been  re-established  in  Scotland,  a 
certain  portion  of  the  Presbyterians,  the  Cameronians  or 
Covenanters,  refused  to  acknowledge  the  authority  of  that 
church,  and  in  consequence  they  became  the  victims  of  a 
severe  persecution.  To  escape  this  they  were  induced  to 
emigrate  in  great  numbers  to  East  Jersey,  which  thus  1G8*. 
became  the  cradle  of  Presbyterianism  in  America.  The 
original  settlers  of  New  Jersey  were  the  Dutch,  English, 
Quakers,  Puritans,  from  New  England,  and  Presbyterians, 
from  Scotland,  which  may  account  for  that  sturdy  opposi- 
tion to  royal  or  ecclestiastical  tyranny  so  characteristic  of 
its  inhabitants. 


CHAPTEK   XIV. 

COLONIZATION  OP  PENNSYLVANIA. 

The  Quakers. — William  Penn. — His  Education. — Obtains  a  Charter. — Prepa 
rations  to  plant  a  Colony. — He  lands  at  Newcastle. — Philadelphia.— 
Rights  of  the  Indians. — Settlement  of  Germantown. — Fletcher,  the  Royal 
Governor. — New  Charter  granted  the  People. — Prosperity  of  the  Col- 
ony.— Trials  of  Penn :  his  Death. — Benjamin  Franklin. 

ohap    We  have  in  the  course  of  this  history  met  with  the  sect 

1  known  as  Quakers, — a  sect,  perhaps,  more  than  any  other 

1650.  drawn  from  the  humbler  classes  of  the  English  people. 
We  have  found  them  at  one  time  few  in  number,  despised 
and  persecuted;  treated  as  the  enemies  of  social  order  and 
morals.  They  were  persecuted  by  all  the  sects  in  turn. 
The  Puritans  of  New  England  endeavored  to  drive  them 
from  their  shores;  the  Churchmen  of  Virginia  refused  them 
a  resting  place ;  and  the  politic  and  trading  Dutch,  though 
desirous  for  colonists,  treated  them  harshly. 

The  Quakers  loved  and  cherished  the  truths  of  the 
Bible  with  as  much  zeal  as  the  most  devoted  Puritans.  As 
non-resistants,  they  believed  that  the  only  evil  a  Christian 
should  resist,  was  the  evil  of  his  own  heart :  as  followers  of 
the  Prince  of  Peace,  they  were  opposed  to  war.  How  much 
blood  and  sorrow  would  be  spared  the  nations,  if  in  this 
respect  they  were  governed  by  the  principles  of  Quakerism  ! 
We  have  now  to  speak  of  this  despised  sect  as  the  found- 
ers of  a  State,  where  their  principles  were  to  be  applied  to 
the  government  of  men. 


WILLIAM    PENN.  165 

George  Fox,  their  founder,  had  visited  the  American  c^p 

colonies  ;  the  condition  of  his  followers  touched  his  heart.   L 

Was  there  no  asylum  for  them  in  the  New  World  ?    "Who    1673. 
should  furnish  them  the  means  to  form  for  themselves  a 
settlement  ? 

Among  the  few  who  joined  them  from  the  higher  classes 
of  English  society,  was  one  destined  to  exert  a  great  influ- 
ence on  the  sect,  and  to  he  admired  and  reverenced  as  a 
benefactor  of  his  race  by  the  good  of  every  age.  When  a  1661 
mere  youth,  his  heart  was  touched  by  the  conversation  of  a 
simple-minded  Quaker,  who  spoke  of  the  peace  and  comfort 
derived  from  the  witnessing  of  God's  Spirit  with  his  own  : 
"  the  inner  light,"  or  voice  of  conscience.  This  youth  was 
William  Penn,  the  son  of  Sir  William  Penn,  who  was  dis- 
tinguished as  a  successful  naval  commander  in  the  times 
of  Cromwell  and  Charles  II.  The  position  of  his  father 
afforded  him  great  advantages.  He  studied  at  Oxford 
University,  was  then  sent  to  the  Continent  to  improve  his 
mind  by  travel  and  intercourse  with  men,  and  to  eradicate 
his  tendency  toward  Quakerism.  After  the  absence  of  two 
years  he  returned,  improved  it  is  true,  but  in  religion  still 
a  member  of  that  despised  sect  everywhere  spoken  against : 
a  sect,  which  its  enemies  affirmed,  would  destroy  every 
government.  The  ambitious  and  worldly-minded  Admiral 
was  angry  and  disappointed.  He  insisted  that  his  son 
should  renounce  Quakerism.  The  son  reflected — he  loved 
and  reverenced  his  father  ;  he  desired  to  obey  and  please 
him,  but  could  he  violate  his  conscience  ?  No;  he  calmly 
resigned  all  earthly  preferment,  and  became  an  exile  from 
his  father's  house.  A  mother's  love  secretly  relieved  his 
pressing  wants. 

Before  long  we  find  him  in  prison  for  his  religion. 
When  the  Bishop  of  London  threatened  him  with  im- 
prisonment for  life  if  he  did  not  recant,  he  calmly  replied, 
"  Then  my  prison  shall  be  my  grave  ! "  When  a  clergy- 
man, the  learned  Stillingfleet,  was  sent  to  convince  him 


166  HISTOEY  OB  THE  AMEBIC  AN  PEOPLE. 

chap,    by  arguments,  he   referred   to  his  prison-walls,  and  re- 

L_  marked,  "  The  Tower  is  to  me  the  worst  argument  in  the 

1663.  world  ;  those  who  use  force  for  religion  never  can  be  in  the 
right  i "  "  Religion,"  said  he,  on  another  occasion,  "  is  my 
crime  and  my  innocence ;  it  makes  me  a  prisoner  to 
malice,  but  my  own  freeman."  At  the  expiration  of  a 
year  he  was  released,  through  the  intercession  of  his 
father. 

Promotion  in  the  navy,  royal  favor,  and  every  worldly 
inducement  was  now  urged  to  tempt  him  to  desert  his 
principles  ;  but  in  vain.  Within  a  year  he  was  arraigned 
again  for  having  spoken  at  a  Quaker  meeting.  As  he 
pleaded  his  own  cause,  he  told  the  court  "  that  no  power 
on  earth  had  the  right  to  debar  him  from  worshipping 
God."  The  jury  brought  in  a  verdict  of  not  guilty.  The 
court,  determined  to  persecute,  ordered  them  back  to  their 
room ;  saying,  "  We  will  have  a  verdict,  or  you  shall 
starve  for  it."  Penn  admonished  them  as  Englishmen  to 
remember  their  rights.  To  the  great  annoyance  of  his 
enemies,  the  jury,  though  they  "  received  no  refreshments 
for  two  days  and  two  nights,"  again  brought  in  a  verdict 
of  not  guilty.  The  court  fined  the  jury  it  could  not 
intimidate.  Though  thus  acquitted,  the  recorder,  under 
the  plea  of  contempt  of  court,  fined  Penn,  and  again  re- 
manded him  to  prison.  As  he  was  leaving  the  room,  he 
mildly  remarked  to  the  angry  magistrate  :  "  Thy  religion 
persecutes  and  mine  forgives."  His  father  soon  afterward 
paid  the  fine,  and  he  was  liberated.  Ere  long  that  father, 
when  dying,  became  reconciled  to  his  son,  and  called  him 
to  his  bedside.  Worldly  prosperity  and  honor  did  not 
seem  so  important  to  the  admiral  in  his  dying  hour  as 
they  had  done  in  other  days.  "  Son  William,"  said  he, 
"  if  you  and  your  friends  keep  to  your  plain  way  01 
preaching  and  living,  you  will  make  an  end  to  the 
priests ! " 

Weary  of  persecutions,  Penn  determined  to  seek  in 


PENNSYLVANIA  PURCHASED.  167 

the  New  World  an  asylum  for  himself  and  his  suffering   3HAP 

friends.     There  was,  perhaps,   no   man  in  the  kingdom   

better  fitted  to  take  the  lead  in  colonizing  a  State  :  fa-  1680. 
miliar,  from  books  as  well  as  from  observation,  with  the 
governments  of  Europe,  and  by  personal  intercourse  with 
some  of  the  most  enlightened  statesmen  of  the  age  ;  the 
friend  and  companion  of  men,  as  eminent  in  science  and 
philosophy  as  they  were  in  purity  of  morals. 

His  father  had  bequeathed  him  a  claim  of  sixteen 
thousand  pounds  against  the  government.     He  offered  to 
receive  lands  in  payment.    Charles  II.,  always  in  want  of 
money,  readily  granted  him  territory  west  of  the  Delaware    1681. 
river,  corresponding  very  nearly  with  the  present  limits  of  '   ?*' 
the  State  of  Pennsylvania, — a  name  given  it  by  the  king. 
The  Duke  of  York  claimed  the  region  now  known  as  the    1682. 
State  of  Delaware ;  Penn  wishing  to  have  free  access  to 
the  bay  obtained  it  from  him. 

As  proprietary  he  now  drew  up  a  proclamation  for  those 
who  were  about  to  emigrate,  as  well  as  for  the  settlers  April 
already  on  the  Delaware.  He  proposed  that  they  should 
make  their  own  laws,  and  pledged  himself  to  interfere  with 
nothing  that  should  be  for  their  benefit ;  saying,  "  I 
propose  to  leave  myself  and  successors  no  power  of  doing 
mischief ;  that  the  will  of  no  one  man  may  hinder  the 'good 
of  a  whole  country/' 

With  instructions  to  govern  in  accordance  with  law, 
he  sent  his  nephew,  William  Markham,  as  agent.  He  had 
expended  so  much  to  aid  his  suffering  brethren,  that  his 
estate  was  now  nearly  exhausted.  When  about  to  sail  for 
his  colony  he  wrote  to  his  wife  :  "  Live  low  and  sparingly 
till  my  debts  are  paid  ;  I  desire  not  riches,  but  to  owe 
nothing  ;  be  liberal  to  the  poor,  and  kind  to  all."  At  this 
time  of  embarrassment  a  very  large  sum  was  offered  him 
by  a  company  of  traders  for  the  exclusive  right  to  trade 
Detween  the  rivers  Susquehannah  and  Delaware.     He  re- 


168  HISTORY  OF  THE  AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

3HAP.    fused  to  sell  such  right,   saying  each  one  in  his  colonj 

1  should  have  an  equal  privilege  to  acquire  property. 

1682.  Penn,  accompanied  by  one  hundred  emigrants,  landed 

2^*  at  New  Castle.  The  Swedes,  Dutch,  and  English  alike 
welcomed  him.  He  passed  up  the  river  to  where  the 
capital  of  his  province  was  yet  to  rise ;  there,  under  a 
spreading  elm,  he  met  a  large  number  of  sachems  of  the 
neighboring  tribes,  and  with  them  entered  into  a  treaty 
No  record  of  this  treaty  has  been  preserved,  yet  it  re- 
mained for  fifty  years  in  force  ;  neither  party  violating  its 
provisions.  The  sons  of  the  forest  received  the  "  Quaker 
King"  as  a  friend,  and  they  never  had  cause  to  regret 
•  their  confidence.  He  promised  to  treat  them  justly ; 
a  promise  observed  not  only  by  himself  but  by  the  Quakei 
settlers.  During  this  year  twenty-three  ships  laden  with 
emigrants  arrived  safely  in  the  colony  ;  and  they  continued 
to  flock  thither  from  year  to  year. 

Lands,  lying  between  the  Schuylkill  and  the  Delaware, 
were  purchased  from  the  Swedes :  a  place  desirable  for  a 
city,  from  its  situation,  healthy  air,  and  springs  of  fresh 
water.  It  was  to  be  a  "  greene  country  town,  gardens 
round  each  house,  that  it  might  never  be  burned,  and 
always  be  wholesome."  The  streets  were  marked  out  in 
the  primitive  forest  by  blazing  the  trees — the  walnut,  the 
spruce,  the  chestnut.     A  city  for  all  mankind,  it  was  sig- 

1688.    nificantly  named  Philadelphia. 

The  new  city  grew  very  rapidly ;  in  three  years  it  con- 
tained more  than  six  hundred  houses,  while  the  colony 
had  a  population  of  nearly  ten  thousand.  Well  might 
the  benevolent  proprietary  look  forward  to  the  future  in 
cheerful  hope  ;  he  had  based  his  government  on  truth  and 
justice.  The  rights  of  the  Bed  Men  were  respected  ;  no 
one  could  wrong  them  without  incurring  the  same  penalty 
as  that  for  wronging  a  fellow  planter.  If  difficulties  oc- 
curred between  them  and  the  settlers,  the  juries  to  try 
such  cases  were  to  be  composed  of  six  Indians  and  sis 


C5? 


FIRST    LEGISLATIVE   ASSEMBLY.  169 

tfkite  men.     In  the  earlier  days  of  the  colony  the  natives   chap 

manifested  their  friendship  by  bringing  as  presents  the   

products  of  the  chase,  wild  fowl  and  venison.  1683. 

Presently  the  first  Assembly  in  Pennsylvania  was  con- 
vened. Penn  gave  to  the  people  a  "  charter  of  liberties," 
a  representative  government,  and  toleration  in  religious 
matters ;  to  prevent  lawsuits,  three  "  peace-makers" 
were  appointed  for  each  county.  Laws  were  made  to 
restrain  vice  and  to  promote  virtue.  Labor  upon  the  Sab-  1684 
bath  was  forbidden.  The  confidence  which  the  Indians  had 
in  his  integrity  gave  security  to  their  friendship,  and  Penn- 
sylvania was  free  from  frontier  wars,  and  more  prosperous 
and  happy  than  any  other  colony.  Had  the  Ked  Men  been 
treated  as  justly  by  the  other  colonists  as  by  the  Quakers, 
thousands  of  lives  would  have  been  spared  and  the  general 
prosperity  of  the  whole  country  promoted. 

The  interests  of  the  young  were  not  forgotten  ;  efforts    1698. 
were  made  for  their  education,  and  a  public  high-school 
chartered  by  Penn,  was  established  at  Philadelphia,  where 
already  a  printing-press,  the  third  in  the  colonies,  was 
doing  its  work. 

After  Penn  returned  to  England,  the  people  of  Dela- 
ware, or  the  three  lower  counties,  who  sympathized  but 
little  with  the  Quakers,  began  to  be  restless.  They  feigned  1691 
grievances,  as  a  means  to  become  independent.  He  yielded 
to  their  request,  and  appointed  for  them  a  separate  deputy- 
governor. 

Being  the  personal  friend  of  the  Duke  of  York,  Penn 
urged  him  when  he  became  king,  to  relieve  the  oppressed; 
and  in  consequence  more  than  twelve  hundred  Quakers 
were  liberated,  who  had  been  imprisoned  many  years  for 
conscience'  sake.  His  benevolence  was  not  limited  to 
those  of  his  own  persuasion,  but  extended  to  all,  both 
Catholic  and  Protestant. 

When  the  great  revolution  drove  the  arbitrary  James 
nto  exile,  and  placed  William  of  Orange  on  the  throne,    168& 


170  HISTORY  OP  THE   AMERICAN"  PEOPLE. 

Peim  was  accused  by  his  enemies  of  favoring  the  interests 
of  the  exiled  monarch,  with  whom  he  corresponded.    This 

1692.  correspondence  afforded  no  evidence  of  the  truth  of  these 
calumnies,  but  "William  lent  them  too  ready  an  ear.  He 
was  at  a  loss  to  conceive  how  Penn  could  be  the  friend  of 
James  in  exile,  without  wishing  him  to  return  to  England 
as  a  sovereign.  These  false  charges,  together  with  rumors 
of  dissensions  in  the  colony,  famished  the  royal  government 
a  pretext  for  depriving  Penn  of  his  proprietary  rights. 

The  Quakers  became  divided  in  their  sentiments;  a  few 
went  to  the  extreme  of  non-resistance,  saying,  that  it  was 
inconsistent  for  a  Quaker  to  engage  in  public  affairs,  either 
as  a  magistrate  or  as  a  legislator.  The  prime  leader  in 
this  was  George  Keith.  After  disturbing  the  province  be- 
yond even  Quaker  endurance,  he  was  indicted  by  the  grand 
jury,  as  a  disturber  of  the  peace  and  violator  of  the  laws. 
He  was  tried,  and  fined  for  using  improper  language ;  but 
lest  it  might  be  thought  a  punishment  for  the  free  expres- 
sion of  opinion,  the  fine  was  remitted.  The  cry  of  perse- 
cution was  raised  ;  but  time  proved  the  falsehood  of  the 
charge. 

The  first  German  emigrants  to  Pennsylvania  were 
Quakers  in  their  religious  views — converts  of  Penn  and 
Barclay,  who  some  years  before  had  travelled  on  the  conti- 
nent as  missionaries.  These  settled  Germantown  and  the 
vicinity.     Twenty  years  later,  the  ravages  of  war  drove 

1690.  many  Germans  from  their  homes  on  the  banks  of  the  Rhine. 
These  emigrated  in  great  numbers  first  to  England,  and 
then  to  Pennsylvania.  In  religious  views  they  were  Ger- 
man Reformed  and  Lutherans.  They  chose  fertile  dis- 
tricts} settled  together,  and  soon  became  celebrated  as  the 
best  farmers  in  America.  Their  numbers  gradually  increas- 
ed by  accessions  of  emigrants  from  home.  They  did  not 
assimilate  with  the  English  colonists  :  preserved  inviolate 
their  customs,  their  religion,  and  their  language,  which 
alone  they  permitted  to  be  taught  their  children.     The 


OPPOSITION    TO    ROYAL    AUTHORITY.  171 

isolation  of  a  population  so  large,  had  an  important  influ-   cg^p 

ence  upon  the  people  of  Pennsylvania,  on  their  system  of  

education  by  common  schools,  on  the  struggle  for  independ-    1692. 
ence,  and  since  politically. 

An  attempt  was  now  made  to  convert  Pennsylvania 
and  Delaware  into  one  royal  province,  over  which  Benja- 
min Fletcher  was  appointed  governor.  Some  of  the  magis- 
trates refused  to  recognize  his  authority,  and  some  resigned 
their  offices.  When  the  Assembly  met,  the  opposition 
became  more  determined.  The  members  of  this  body 
deemed  the  laws  made  under  the  charter  received  from 
Penn  as  valid;  neither  would  they  legislate  under  any  other 
authority.  The  charter  given  by  King  Charles,  said  they, 
is  as  valid  as  one  given  by  King  William  ;  and  they  re- 
fused to  throw  a  suspicion  over  their  existing  laws  by 
re-enacting  them.  They  never  noticed  the  governor ;  with 
Quaker  coolness  passed  and  repassed  his  door,  and  in  every 
respect  ignored  his  presence. 

Meanwhile,  Penn  had  been  persecuted  and  annoyed ; 
he  was  arraigned  three  times  on  frivolous  charges,  which 
were  as  often  not  sustained.  He  prepared  once  more  to  1090 
visit  his  colony.  Crowds  of  emigrants  were  ready  to  go 
with  him,  when  he  was  arrested  again.  Forced  to  go  into 
retirement,  he  determined  to  wait  till  time  should  bring 
him  justice.  This  delay  ruined  the  remainder  of  his  for- 
tune ;  death  entered  his  family,  and  robbed  him  of  his 
wife  and  eldest  son.  Treated  harshly  by  the  world,  and  in 
some  instances  by  those  whom  he  thought  his  friends,  he 
mildly  persevered;  never  changed  his  views  of  right  and 
justice  ;  conscious  of  the  purity  of  his  motives,  he  serenely 
waited  for  the  time  when  his  character  should  be  vindi- 
cated from  the  aspersions  cast  upon  it.  Ere  long  that  time 
came,  the  charges  laid  against  him  were  proved  to  be  false, 
and  he  was  restored  to  his  proprietary  rights.  1694 

The  want  of  means  delayed  his  visit  to  his  colony,  but 
he  sent  Markham  as  his  deputy.    He  called  an  Assembly; 


OF  ~WE 

t(Niwr-Dci-H. 


172  HISTORY  OF  THE  AMERICAN   PEOPLE, 

chap,   the  people,  alarmed  at  the  recent  encroachments  upon 

L  their  chartered   rights,  framed  for  themselves   a  libera 

1694.  constitution.  The  Assembly  would  levy  no  tax  until 
this  was  granted.  When  Penn  arrived,  he  recognized  as 
valid  what  the  people  had  done.  When  the  proposition 
1700.  was  made  to  form  a  "  constitution  which  would  be  firm 
and  lasting,"  he  said  to  them,  "  Keep  what  is  good  in  the 
charter  and  frame  of  government,  and  add  what  may  best 
suit  the  common  good."  It  was  agreed  to  surrender  the 
old  charter,  and  in  its  place  frame  a  new  constitution. 
1702.  The  territories  wished  to  be  separate,  and  Delaware 
was  permitted  to  have  her  own  legislature ;  though  the 
governor  was  to  be  the  same  as  that  of  Pennsylvania 
The  two  governments  were  never  again  united.  All  the 
political  privileges  the  people  desired  he  cheerfully 
granted ;  they  enjoyed  religious  liberty,  and  annually 
elected  their  own  magistrates. 

A  large  emigration  began  about  this  period,  and  con- 
tinued for  half  a  century,  to  pour  into  Pennsylvania  from 
the  north  of  Ireland  and  from  Scotland.  These  were 
principally  Presbyterians.  They  settled  in  the  eastern 
and  middle  parts  of  the  colony,  and  thence  gradually  ex- 
tended their  settlements  west,  making  inroads  upon  the 
forest. 

When  Penn  returned  to  the  colony  it  was  his  inten- 
tion to  remain,  and  make  it  the  home  of  his  children. 
Kumors,  however,  reached  the  province  that  the  charters 
of  all  the  colonies  were  to  be  taken  away,  and  they 
thrown  upon  the  tender  mercies  of  court  favorites.  He 
had  not  only  purchased  his  territory  from  Charles,  but  he 
had  bought  the  land  from  the  Indians  themselves ;  he 
was  therefore  the  sole  owner  of  the  unoccupied  soil  of 
Pennsylvania.  These  rumors  rendered  it  necessary  for 
him  to  return  to  England.  Having  arranged  the  govern- 
ment so  as  best  to  promote  the  interests  of  the  people,  he 
bade  farewell  to  the  colony,  for  which  he  had  spent  the 


BENJAMIN   FRANKLIN.  173 

better  part  of  his  life,  and  for  which  he  "breathed  his  part-   GBkP 
ing  blessing.  

The  virtues  of  William  Penn  saved  the   colony,  so    17oa 
dear  to  his   heart,  from   becoming  a  province    ruled  by 
royal  governors  and  impoverished  by  tax-gatherers.     His 
enemies  never  could  persuade  the  court  to  deprive  him 
of  his  property.     Though  in  his  old  age  so  poor,  on  ac- 
count of  the  sacrifices  he  had  made,  as  to  be  compelled  to 
go  for  a  season  to  a  debtor's  prison,  he  refused  to  sell  his 
estates  in  America  unless  he  could  secure  for  the  people 
the  full  enjoyment  of  their  liberties.     His  death  was  as 
peaceful  as  his  life  had  been  benevolent.     He  left  three    1718. 
sons,  who  were  minors.     For  them  the  government  was 
administered  by  deputies  until  the  [Revolution,  when  the    1776 
Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania  purchased  their  claims  for 
more  than  half  a  million  of  dollars. 

Six  years  after  the  death  of  Penn,  there  came  to 
Philadelphia  a  youth  of  seventeen,  who  was  yet  to  exert 
a  great  influence,  not  merely  upon  that  colony  but  upon 
the  others,  while  his  fame  was  to  be  as  great  in  the  world 
of  science.  This  youth  was  Benjamin  Franklin,  a 
native  of  Boston,  the  son  of  a  tallow-chandler  ;  at  which 
business,  till  ten  years  of  age,  he  labored.  But  his  ardent 
mind  craved  something  far  beyond.  During  his  leisure 
time,  and  till  late  at  night,  he  read  and  appreciated 
all  the  books  he  could  borrow,  and  his  limited  means 
could  purchase. 

At  twelve  he  was  bound  to  his  eldest  brother,  a  print- 
er, to  leam  the  art.  There  he  experienced,  not  the 
kindness  of  a  brother  but  the  harshness  of  a  tyrant. 
Worn  out  with  this  oppression,  the  determined  youth 
gold  his  little  library  to  furnish  means  to  travel,  ancL 
without  giving  notice  to  his  friends,  left  to  seek  his  for- 
tune in  the  wide  world.  He  travelled  first  to  New 
York,  where  he  tarried  but  a  day,  and  then  passed  on  to 
Philadelphia.     There  he  arrived  a  stranger — his   money 


174  HISTORY  OF  THE   AMERICAN  PEOPLE. 

3HAP .    reduced  to  a  single  dollar ;  a  penny  roll  served  him  foi 

, his  first  dinner.     In  one  of  the  two  printing-offices  of  the 

1724.  city  he  sought  and  obtained  employment.  Afterward  he 
went  to  London,  where  he  spent  a  year  and  a  half  in  the 
same  business  ;  then  returned,  hut  every  thing  that  could 
be  of  avail  to  him  he  had  carefully  marked  and  treasured 
up*.  In  truth  he  never  lost  a  moment ;  nothing  escaped 
his  notice,  whether  in  the  natural  or  political  world.  His 
wonderful  combination  of  diligence,  keen  observation,  and 
practical  wisdom,  fitted  him  to  trace  the  current  of 
human  affairs,  as  well  as  deduce  laws  from  the  phenomena 
of  nature. 

His  experiments  in  electricity,  the  discovery  of  its 
identity  with  lightning,  and  the  invention  of  the  light- 
ning-rod, made  his  name  famous  in  the  universities  and 
courts  of  the  Old  World ;  while  his  "  Poor  Richard's 
Almanac,"  with  its  aphorisms  of  worldly  wisdom,  pene- 
trated every  nook  and  corner  of  his  native  land,  and  by 
its  silent  influence  did  much  to  inculcate  the  virtues  of 
industry  and  economy. 

"  The  first  native  of  America,  who  wrote  the  Eng- 
lish language  with  classic  taste  and  elegance,"  his  influ- 
ence was  impressed  upon  the  literature  of  the. land.  He 
established  the  first  American  periodical  magazine,  con- 
ducted a  newspaper,  and  wrote  popular  pamphlets  on 
topics  of  public  interest. 

Pennsylvania  seems  to  have  been  the  chosen  home  of 
1160  the  Germans.  In  the  autumn  of  one  year  came  twenty 
ships  to  Philadelphia,  with  twelve  thousand  German  em- 
igrants on  board.  The  two  following  years  brought  each 
nearly  as  many.  The  Rev.  Henry  M.  Muhlenburg,  whose 
influence  was  exerted  fo~  fifty  years  in  laying  the  foundation 
of  the  Lutheran  church  in  America,  had  already  com- 
lttt.  menced  his  labors.  The  Swedish  churches  on  the  Delaware 
sympathized  in  doctrine  with  the  Lutheran,  but  in  time 
the  former,  more  inclined  to  adopt  the  English  language, 
united  with  the  Episcopal  church. 


CHAPTER    XV. 

COLONIZATION   OP  THE  CAROLINAS. 


The  first  Settlers.— Grants  to  Royal  Favorites.— The  "  Grand  Model.' 

tlement  at  Cape  Fear  River. — Sir  John  Yeamans. — Emigrants  under 
Sayle. — The  Huguenots. — The  People  Independent. — Rice. — Church- 
men and  Dissenters. — Manufactures  prohibited. — War  between  Eng- 
land and  Spain. — Failure  to  Capture  St.  Augustine. — The  ruin  of  the 
Appalachees. — Indian  Wars. — German  Emigrants. — The  People  repu- 
diate the  Authority  of  the  Proprietaries. 

We  have  now  to  speak  of  the  permanent  settlement  of   chap 

the   land,  which   the  chivalric  Sir  Walter  Raleigh   en-  ^ 

deavored  to  colonize  ;  and  to  which  the  noble  Coligny  1522. 
sent  his  countrymen  to  found  a  Protestant  State,  and 
where  they  perished  by  the  hand  of  Spanish  violence. 
That  vast  region,  extending  from  the  southern  border  of 
Virginia  to  the  northern  border  of  Florida,  was  repre- 
sented as  a  "  delightsome  land "  by  the  adventurers  who 
had  explored  it.  Thither,  during  the  space  of  forty  years, 
emigrants  had  gone  from  Virginia.  These  were  Dis- 
senters, a  term  which  now  began  to  be  applied  to  all 
Protestants  not  attached  to  the  Church  of  England. 
This  Church,  established  by  law  in  Virginia,  exercised 
great  illiberality  toward  those  who  would  not  conform  to 
its  ceremonies  ;  and  many  Dissenters,  greatly  annoved  by 
the  collectors  of  tythes,  emigrated  further  south.  Among 
them  was  a  company  of  Presbyterians  who  settled  on  the  ;g5g, 
Chowan.  Berkeley,  governor  of  Virginia,  assumed  juris- 
diction over  them  by  appointing  one  of  their  number, 


176  HISTORY  OP  THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE. 

jhap.    William  Drummond,  governor.    Drummond  was  a  Scotch- 

man  by  birth,  a  devoted  advocate  of  popular  liberty,  the 

1653.    same  who   afterward,  as   has   been  related,  returned  to 
Virginia,  and  was  put  to  death  by  Berkeley  for  the  part 
he  took  in  Bacon's  attempt  to  vindicate  the  rights  of  the 
t676.    people. 

Charles  II.,  who  gave  away  vast  regions  with  as  much 
coolness  as  if  they  really  belonged  to  him,  granted  to 
eight  of  his  favorites  a  charter  and  certain  privileges,  to 
468.  repay  them  for  their  loyalty  in  restoring  him  to  the  throne 
of  his  father.  This  grant  was  of  the  territory  extending 
from  the  present  southern  line  of  Virginia  to  the  St. 
Johns,  in  Florida,  and  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific. 
Many  of  these  proprietaries  were  men  of  influence  in  their 
day.  Among  these  were  the  Earl  of  Clarendon,  who  was 
prime  minister ;  Sir  Ashley  Cooper,  better  known  as  the 
Earl  of  Shaftesbury  ;  General  Monk,  Duke  of  Albemarle, 
who  took  an  active  part  in  the  restoration  of  Charles  ;  Sir 
William  Berkeley,  whom  we  have  met  in  Virginia  his- 
tory; and  Sir  George  Carteret,  a  proprietary  of  New 
Jersey.  They  professed  to  have  "a  pious  zeal  for  the 
spread  of  the  gospel,"  but  their  conduct  has  led  the  world 
to  believe  that  they  desired  more  to  enrich  themselves  by 
means  of  a  vast  land  speculation. 

The  labor  of  framing  a  government  for  their  empire  in 
the  New  World  they  intrusted  to  Shaftesbury,  and  the 
celebrated  philosopher,  John  Locke.  Their  joint  produc- 
tion by  pre-eminence  was  named  the  "  Grand  Model "  or 
"  Fundamental  Constitutions."  In  it  the  right  to  rule 
was  assumed  to  belong  only  to  those  of  noble  blood  ;  and 
therefore  its  principles  were  pronounced  immortal.  It 
made  provision  for  Earls,  Barons,  and  Squires,  in  whose 
hands,  under  various  forms,  should  be  the  entire  adminis- 
tration of  affairs  ;  while  the  people  were  to  be  attached  to 
the  soil  as  tenants.  Those  who  owned  fifty  acres  of  land 
had  the  privilege  of  voting,  and  were  termed  freemen  ;  but 


THE  "grand  model/'  177 

those  who   were  tenants  had  no   such  privilege,  neither   chap 

could  they  ever  rise  above  that  station.     To  the  freemen  

an  Assembly  was  granted,  but  on  such  conditions,  that  its  1668. 
acts  were  under  the  control  of  the  aristocracy.  Every  re- 
ligion was  professedly  tolerated,  but  care  was  taken  to 
declare  that  the  Church  of  England  alone  was  orthodox. 
Such  was  the  frame  of  government  prepared  for  the  people 
of  the  Carolinas  by  the  united  wisdom  of  two  philosophers. 
Had  it  been  designed  for  a  people  living  in  the  Middle 
Ages,  it  might,  at  least,  have  had  a  trial ;  an  honor  to 
which  the  "  Grand  Model"  never  attained.  It  was 
as  easy  to  convert  log-cabins  into  castles,  as  to  make 
the  people  perpetual  tenants  ;  they  might  be  made 
nobles,  but  never  dependents.  Great  numbers  of  them  had 
left  Virginia  expressly  to  escape  restraint  and  oppression ; 
and  they  had  very  little  respect  for  the  authority  of  the 
proprietaries,  while  they  certainly  did  not  fear  and  honor 
fche  king. 

The'  contest  soon  began.  The  proprietaries  claimed 
the  territory  because  the  king  had  given  them  a  charter, 
and  they  demanded  quit-rents ;  the  settlers,  already  in 
possession,  claimed  their  lands  because  they  had  pur- 
chased them  from  the  Indians.  Why  should  they  pay 
quit-rents  ? 

A  few  years  before,  a  small  company  from  New  Eng-  leei 
land  had  formed  a  settlement  on  Cape  Fear  river.  Every 
inducement  was  held  out  to  retain  these  settlers,  and  to 
encourage  others  to  join  them.  To  each  one  was  offered  one 
hundred  acres  of  land,  at  a  quit-rent  of  half  a  penny  an 
acre  ;  but  the  barrenness  of  the  soil  neutralized  every 
effort.  Many  of  these  colonists  returned  home,  and  the 
distress  of  the  remainder  was  so  great,  that  contributions 
in  their  behalf  were  taken  up  in  New  England. 

Three  years  later  quite  an  accession  was  made  to  this    1664. 
settlement  by  a  company  of  planters  from  the  Barbadoes. 
Sir  John  Yeamans,  their  leader,  was  appointed  governor. 


178  HISTORY  OF  THE    AMERICAN  PEOPLE. 

chap.    He  was  instructed,  in  order  to  induce  others  to  come,  to 

XV. 

L  be   "very   tender"  toward   the  New   Englanders.     The 

1664.  people  did  the  best  they  could  with  their  pine  barrens,  by 
making  staves  and  shingles  ;  these  they  sent  to  the  West 
Indies  :  a  trade  carried  on  to  this  day  from  that  region 
It  was  enacted  that  debts  contracted  out  of  the  colony 
could  not  be  collected  from  the  emigrant  by  process  of 
law  until  he  had  been  a  resident  five  years.  It  thus  be- 
came a  partial  asylum  for  debtors. 
tfe70.  A  company  of  emigrants,  under  the  direction  of  Wil- 

liam Sayle,  was  also  sent  by  the  proprietaries  ;  and  to 
superintend  their  own  interests  they  appointed  Joseph 
West  commercial  agent.  They  landed  first  at  Port 
Royal,  where  the  remains  of  the  fort  built  by  the  Hugue- 
nots, one  hundred  years  before,  were  still  visible.  It  had 
been  called  Carolina,  in  honor  of  the  reigning  French 
king  ;  the  name  was  now  retained  in  honor  of  Charles  of 
England.  One  of  the  proprietaries,  Carteret,  gave  his 
name  to  the  colony.  For  some  reason  they,  before  long, 
removed  to  another  situation  further  north,  where  they 
formed  a  settlement  between  two  rivers,  which,  in  honor 
of  Shaftesbury,  were  named  the  Ashley  and  the.  Cooper. 
A  location  near  the  harbor,  and  better  suited  for  commer- 
cial purposes,  was  afterward  noticed.  In  process  of  time 
a  village  grew  up  on  this  spot ;  it  is  now  known  as  the  city 
of  Charleston. 

The  colony  continued  to  increase  from  emigration. 
Dissenters  came,  hoping  to  enjoy  the  religious  rights 
denied  them  at  home  ;  Dutch  and  Germans  from  Europe  ; 
Presbyterians  from  the  North  of  Ireland  as  well  as  from 
Scotland — the  latter  furnishing  great  numbers  of  "  phy- 
sicians, clergymen,  lawyers,  and  schoolmasters; " — Church- 
men from  England,  who  expected  their  church  to  be 
established  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  the 
"  Grand  Model ; "  emigrants  from  New  York,  because  of 
the   high-handed   measures  of    the   English   governors ; 


THE    HUGUENOTS.  179 

and  Huguenots,  under  the  patronage  of  Charles  II.     He  c**^*- 

wished  to  introduce  the  culture  of  the  vine  and  olive,  the  L 

raising  of  silk-worms,  and  ultimately  the  manufacture  of    107&. 
silk.     Great  numbers  of  the  Huguenots,  from  Languedoc, 
in  the  South  of  France,  came  to  the  Carolinas,  attracted 
by  the  genial  climate. 

A  law  granting  toleration  to  the  Protestants  of  France 
was  made  by  Henry  IY. :  this  was  the  famous  Edict  of  1598. 
Nantes,  thus  named  from  the  city  where  it  was  given. 
This  law  remained  in  force  almost  ninety  years,  when  it 
was  revoked  by  Louis  XIV.  He  had,  as  long  as  he  368& 
could  enjoy  it,  spent  his  life  in  vice  and  the  grossest  de- 
bauchery ;  now  he  thought  to  silence  the  clamors  of  con- 
science, that  terrible  enemy  of  wicked  men,  and  yet  win 
heaven  by  converting  to  the  Romish  church  his  Protestant 
subjects.  Encouraged  in  this  by  the  priests  and  the 
wiles  of  an  apostate  woman,  he  let  loose  upon  these  indus- 
trious and  well-disposed  people  the  terrors  of  persecution. 
Why  go  into  the  detail  of  their  wrongs  ? — the  heart 
sickens  at  the  remembrance.  By  a  refinement  of  cruelty, 
they  were  forbidden  to  flee  from  their  native  land,  and 
every  avenue  of  escape  was  guarded  by  their  inveterate 
enemies.  Yet,  after  encountering  unheard-of  dangers  and 
trials,  many  of  them  did  escape,  and  more  than  five  hun- 
dred thousand  fled  to  different  parts  of  the  world.  In  the 
New  World  they  were  everywhere  welcomed  by  sympa- 
thizing friends. 

The  Huguenots  were  so  far  superior  to  the  Catholic 
portion  of  the  French  nation,  in  intelligence  and  the 
knowledge  of  the  mechanic  arts,  that  nearly  all  the  manu- 
factures of  the  country  were  in  their  hands.  This  skill 
they  carried  with  them,  and  they  thus  became  desirable 
citizens  wherever  they  chose  to  settle.  In  South  Carolina 
their  influence  was  specially  felt.  Their  quiet  and  inof- 
fensive manners  won  for  them  respect ;  their  integrity  and 
industry  gave  them  influence.  Ere  long  they  mingled 
10 


180  HISTORY  OF  THE   AMERICAN  PEOPLE. 

chap,    with  the  inhabitants ;  and  their  descendants,  almost  uni- 
versally,  when  the  hour  of  trial  came,  were  found  on  the 

1670.  side  of  justice  and  liberty. 

The  original  inhabitants  of  the  Carolinas  were  peculiar 
in  their  character.  Numbers  of  them  went  thither  from 
the  other  colonies  to  avoid  restraint ;  they  refused  to  pay 
taxes  to  the  proprietaries  or  to  the  king,  01  duties  or 
trade  ;  they  were  friendly  to  the  buccaneers  or  pirates,  whc 
infested  the  Southern  waters  ;  they  warred  against  the  In- 
dians, to  obtain  captives  to  be  sent  to  the  West  Indies  and 
sold  as  slaves.  There  were  no  towns  in  the  colony ;  the 
planters  were  scattered  along  the  streams  and  valleys. 
There  were  no  roads  ;  they  travelled  along  paths  through 
the  woods,  known  only  by  the  blazed  trees,  or  on  the 
rivers  by  means  of  row-boats.  The  proprietaries  soon  saw 
the  impossibility  of  inducing  a  people  so  free  and  fearless 
to  conform  to  a  government  under  the  "  Grand  Model." 

Sir  John  Yeamans,  who  had  been  appointed  governor, 

1671.  brought  with  him,  on  his  return  from  Barbadoes,  fifty 
families,  and  nearly  two  hundred  slaves.  This  was  the 
commencement  of  negro  slavery  in  South  Carolina.  The 
slaves  increased  very  rapidly,  and  in  a  few  years  so  many 
had  been  introduced  that  in  number  they  were  nearly  two 
to  one  of  the  whites. 

Yeamans,  "a  sordid  calculator,"  had  been  impover- 
ished in  England,  and  went  abroad  to  improve  his  fortune. 
He  took  special  pains  to  guard  his  own  interests  ;  for  this 
reason  he  was  dismissed  by  the  proprietaries.  Under  his 
successor,  the  wise  and  liberal  West,  the  colony  flourished 
for  some  years.  He,  too,  was  dismissed,  not  because  he 
favored  himself  but  because  he  favored  the  people. 

Th&»next  struggle  came,  when  an  attempt  was  made 
to  levy  duties  on  the  little  trade  of  the  colony.  The  people 
considered  themselves  independent  of  the  proprietaries  as 
veil  as  of  the  king,  and  under  no  obligation  to  pay  taxes 
in  any  form.     That  there  was  much  dissatisfaction  in  the 


DISPUTES   AND    PABTIE8.  181 

colony,    maj    be    inferred  from   the    fact    that    in    the   chap 

space  of  six  years  it  had  five  governors.     To  allay  these  L. 

troubles  James  Colleton,  a  brother  of  one  of  the  pro-  1671. 
prietaries,  was  sent  as  governor.  But  when  he  attempted 
to  collect  rents  and  taxes  he  met  with  as  little  success  as 
any  of  his  predecessors  :  the  people  seized  tfo*  records  of 
the  province,  imprisoned  his  secretary,  and  b\  Idly  defied 
him  and  his  authority. 

Though  many  of  the  settlers  left  Virginia  on  account 
of  the  want  of  religious  privileges,  they  found  but  very  few 
ministers  of  the  gospel  in  the  country.  Quaker  preachers 
were  the  first  to  visit  the  Carolinas ;  afterward  George 
Fox  himself  carried  them  the  truth  as  he  believed  it.  The 
people  warmly  welcomed  the  messenger  of  the  gospeL 
The  influence  of  this  visit  was  to  strengthen  the  hearts  of 
his  followers,  and  to  make  many  converts.  The  Quakers, 
everywhere  the  friends  of  popular  rights,  exerted  much  in- 
fluence against  the  arbitrary  rule  of  the  proprietaries. 

There  arose  a  party  of  "  Cavaliers  and  ill-livers," 
whose  morals  were  fashioned  after  those  of  the  court  of  the 
profligate  Charles.  Opposition  was  excited  by  their  high- 
handed measures,  and  another  party  sprang  into  existence; 
it  was  composed  of  the  Presbyterians,  Quakers,  and  the 
Huguenots,  who  had  recently  been  admitted  to  the  rights 
of  citizenship.  The  disputes  were  chiefly  in  relation  to 
rents  and  land  tenures. 

In  the  midst  of  this  confusion,  an  upright  Quaker, 
John  Archdale,  was  elected  governor.  He  assumed  the  16&4 
part  of  mediator,  and  attempted,  with  some  success,  to 
reconcile  the  disputants.  In  selecting  his  council  he  chose 
men  of  all  parties,  and  by  various  judicious  regulations 
partially  allayed  the  strife.  By  just  treatment  he  made 
friends  of  the  Indians  ;  he  ransomed  and  sent  home  some 
of  their  Indian  converts,  who  were  held  by  a  neighboring 
tribe  as  slaves,  and  thus  conciliated  the  Spaniards  at  St. 
Augustine.    The  kind  act  was  reciprocated  ;  the  Spaniards 


182  HISTORY  OF  THE   AMEBICAK  PEOPLE. 

chap,  restored  to  their  friends  some  English  sailors  shipwrecked 

L  on  their  coast. 

16t>4.  The  Dissenters  numbered  two-thirds  of  the  population, 

yet,  for  the  sake  of  peace,  they  consented  that  one  minister 
of  the  Church  of  England  should  be  maintained  at  the 
public  expense.  Upon  one  occasion  the  Churchmen  and 
aristocracy  accidentally  had  a  majority  of  one  in  the 
Assembly  ;  they  manifested  their  gratitude  for  the  con- 
cession just  mentioned,  by  depriving  the  Dissenters  of  all 
their  political  privileges  ;  they  made  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land the  established  church,  to  be  maintained  at  the  pub- 
lic expense,  and  proceeded  to  divide  the  colony  into 
parishes,  to  which  the  "  Society  for  the  Propagation  of 

1704.  the  Gospel"  was  to  appoint  pastors.  The  aggrieved 
people  appealed  to  the  House  of  Lords  for  redress  ;  and 
the  intolerant  act  of  the  Legislature  was  declared  to  be 
null  and  void.  The  law  disfranchising  Dissenters  was  re- 
pealed, that  granting  a  support  to  the  Church  of  England 
remained  in  force  till  the  Revolution. 

Notwithstanding  these  difficulties  the  colony  pros- 
pered, and  increased  in  numbers  from  emigration.  Among 
these  a  company  from  Massachusetts  formed  a  settlement 

1898.  twenty  miles  back  of  Charleston.  During  Archdale's  ad- 
ministration, the  captain  of  a  ship  from  Madagascar  gave 
him  some  rice,  which  he  distributed  among  the  planters 
to  be  sown.  The  experiment  was  successful,  and  soon 
Carolina  rice  was  celebrated  as  the  best  in  the  world. 
The  fur  trade  with  the  Indians  was  also  profitable,  while 
the  forests  produced  their  share  of  profit  in  lumber  and 
tar. 

The  colonists  attempted  to  manufacture  domestic 
cloths  to  supply  their  own  wants  ;  an  enterprise  they  were 
soon  compelled  to  abandon.  The  manufacturers  and  mer- 
chants of  England  complained,  as  they  themselves  wished 
to  enjoy  the  profits  that  would  arise  from  supplying  them 
Parliament  passed  an  act  forbidding  woollen  goods  to  be 


EXPEDITION    AGAINST    ST.    AUGUSTINE.  183 

transported  from  one  colony  to  another,  or  to  any  foreign   chap 

port.     This  unrighteous  law,  as  was  designed,  broke  up  

nearly  all  colonial  trade  and  manufactures,  and  gave  the    1600. 
English  trader  and  manufacturer  the  monopoly  of  both. 
We  shall  see  how  this  policy  affected  all  the  colonists.    In 
the  Carolinas,  they  could  only  engage  in  planting,  and  a 
new  impulse  was  given  to  the  slave  trade. 

War  had  arisen  between  England  and  Spain,  and  their 
children  in  the  New  World  unfortunately  took  up  arms 
against  each  other.  James  Moore,  who  was  now  governor 
of  Carolina,  undertook  an  expedition  against  St.  Augus- 
tine. He  is  represented  as  a  "  needy,  forward,  ambitious 
man,"  who  was  in  the  habit  of  kidnapping  Indians  and 
selling  them  as  slaves :  now  he  hoped  to  plunder  the 
Spaniards  at  St.  Augustine.  He  pressed  some  vessels  into  1708 
his  service,  and  set  sail  with  a  portion  of  the  troops,  and 
sent  others  with  the  Indian  allies  by  land.  The  town  was 
easily  taken,  but  the  soldiers  retired  to  a  well  fortified  fort, 
and  defied  the  besiegers.  Moore  must  send  to  the  island 
of  Jamaica  for  cannon,  to  enable  him  to  take  the  fort. 
Meanwhile  an  Indian  runner  had  sped  through  the  forest 
to  Mobile,  and  informed  the  French  settlers  there  of  what 
was  going  on.  They  sent  word  to  Havana.  We  may  judge 
the  surprise  of  Moore,  when  he  saw  two  Spanish  men-of- 
war  come  to  rescue  St.  Augustine,  instead  of  the  vessel  he 
expected  from  Jamaica.  He  immediately  abandoned  his 
supplies  and  stores,  and  made  his  way  by  land  as  best  he 
could,  to  Charleston.  The  colony,  by  this  unwise  and 
wicked  expedition,  only  gained  a  debt  which  pressed  heavily 
upon  the  people  for  years. 

The  Appalachees  of  Florida,  under  the  influence  of 
Spanish  priests,  had  become  converts  to  Romanism  ;  they 
built  churches,  and  began  to  cultivate  the  soil  and  live  in 
villages.  As  free  intercourse  existed  between  Florida  and 
Louisiana;  the  English  colonists  professed  alarm  at  the 
influence  the  French  and  Spaniards  might  have  over  the 


184  HISTORY  OF  THE   AMERICAN  PEOPLE. 

ch^P-    Indians  of  that  region.     This  furnished  an  excuse  for  thf 
ambitious  Moore  to  lead  an  expedition  against  these  inoffen- 

1705.  sive  Indians,  whose  only  crime  was,  that  they  were  willing 
to  be  taught  religion  and  agricultuie  by  Spanish  priests. 
With  about  fifty  whites  and  one  thousand  friendly  Indians, 
he  went  through  the  wilderness,  away  across  the  State  oi 
Georgia,  down  on  the  Gulf  to  Appalachee  Bay.  The  first 
intimation  the  Indians  had  of  this  freebooting  expedition 
was  an  attack  upon  their  village,  one  morning  at  daylight. 
The  assailants  met  with  so  warm  a  reception,  that  at  first 
they  were  forced  to  retire,  but  not  until  they  had  set  fire 
to  a  church.  There  happened  to  be  in  the  bay  a  Spanish 
ship,  whose  commander  the  next  day,  with  a  few  white 
men  and  four  hundred  Indians,  made  an  attack  on  the 
invaders,  but  he  was  defeated.  The  Indian  villages  were 
now  destroyed,  the  churches  plundered  of  their  plate,  and 
numbers  of  Indians  taken  captive,  and  removed  to  the  banks 
of  the  Altamaha,  while  their  own  country  was  given  to  the 
Seminoles,  the  allies  of  the  invaders.  Thus  the  English 
placed  Indians  friendly  to  themselves  between  the  Spanish 
and  French  settlements,  while  in  virtue  of  this  expedition 
they  claimed  the  soil  of  Georgia.  More  than  one  hundred 
and  twenty-five  years  afterward,  the  descendants  of  these 
Seminoles  were  removed  beyond  the  Mississippi.  Even 
then  the  ruins  of  churches  marked  the  stations  of  the  Span- 
ish missions  among  the  Appalachees. 

The  next  year  brought  Charleston  two  unexpected 
enemies — a  malignant  fever,  and  while  it  was  raging,  a 
squadron  of  Spanish  and  French  ships  to  avenge  the  attack 

1706.  upon  the  Appalachees.  The  people,  under  William  Ehett 
and  Sir  Nathaniel  Johnson,  were  soon  ready  to  meet  them. 
When  thjBy  landed,  they  were  opposed  at  every  point,  and 
driven  back.  A  French  ship  was  captured  ;  and  of  the 
eight  hundred  men  who  landed,  more  than  three  hundred 
were  either  killed  or  taken  prisoners.  This  victory  wag 
looked  upon  as  a  great  triumph. 


RELIGIOUS    CONTROVERSIES.  18£ 

In  this  conflict  the  Huguenots  performed  well  their  c^p 

part.     An  unusual  number  of  them  had  settled  in  Charles-  L 

ton  ;  here  they  founded  a  church,  its  forms  of  worship  the    1688. 
same  as  those  to  which  they  were  accustomed  at  home. 
This  church  still  remains,  the  only  one  in  the  land  that  has 
preserved  inviolate  these  pristine  forms. 

A  general  effort  was  now  made  to  extend  the  influence 
of  the  Church  of  England  in  the  colonies.  The  politic 
William  of  Orange  looked  upon  the  project  with  a  favor- 
able eye.  A  "  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel 
in  foreign  parts  "  was  formed  in  England.  Its  object,  the  1701, 
conversion  of  the  Indians,  was  worthy  ;  but  at  this  time, 
by  means  of  worldly  men  and  politicians,  its  influence  was 
directed  to  the  establishment  of  the  Church  of  England  in 
all  the  American  colonies.  The  project  everywhere  met 
with  great  opposition  except  in  Virginia;  there  the  dissent- 
ers were  few  in  number.  This  society  founded  many 
churches  in  the  colonies,  which  remain  even  to  this  day. 

North  Carolina  was  called  the  "  Sanctuary  of  Kun-  1711 
aways,"  a  "  land  where  there  was  scarcely  any  government," 
with  a  population  made  up  of  "  Presbyterians,  Independ- 
ents, Quakers,  and  other  evil-disposed  persons."  Such  was 
the  language  of  royalists  and  those  opposed  to  freedom  in 
religious  opinions.  The  proprietaries  determined  to  estab- 
lish the  Church  of  England,  and  maintain  it  at  public  ex- 
pense. Those  who  refused  to  conform  to  this  law  were 
debarred  from  holding  offices  of  trust.  The  people  did 
refuse,  and  soon  there  "was  but  one  clergyman  in  the 
whole  country;"  and  those  in  favor  of  freedom  in  religious 
opinions,  were  stigmatized  as  a  "  rabble  of  profligate  per- 
sons." These  tyrannies  finally  led  to  open  rebellion  on  the 
part  of  the  people,  who  wished  to  govern  themselves,  and 
when  unmolested  did  it  well. 

Thus  far  North  Carolina  had  escaped  the  horrors  of 
Indian  warfare.  There  were  many  tribes  west  and  south 
of  their  territory.     The  greater  part  of  the  region  now 


186  HISTORY   OF  THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE. 

chap,   occupied  by  the  States  of  Georgia  and  Alabama,  was  the 

home  of  the  Creeks  or  Muscogees,  numbering  nearly  thirty 

1712.    thousand. 

The  teiritory  of  the  Yamassees  lay  immediately  west 
of  the  settlement  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Savannah.  In 
the  vicinity  were  the  Catawbas,  on  the  river  which  per- 
petuates their  name.  West  of  these,  a  mountaineer  tribe, 
the  Cherokees,  roamed  through  the  beautiful  valleys  of 
the  upper  Tennessee,  while  they  claimed  as  their  hunting 
grounds  the  regions  north  of  them  to  the  Kanawha  and 
the  Ohio. 

A  great  change  had  come  over  the  powerful  tribes 
along  the  coast.  The  Hatteras  tribe,  which,  in  Ealeigh's 
time,  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  years  before,  numbered 
nearly  twenty  thousand,  was  now  reduced  to  less  than  one 
hundred.  Some  tribes  had  entirely  disappeared  ;  had 
retired  farther  back  into  the  wilderness,  or  become  extinct. 
Vices  copied  from  the  white  man  had  wrought  this  ruin. 

The  Tuscaroras,  a  warlike  tribe,  whose  ancestors  had 
emigrated  from  the  north,  became  alarmed  at  the  en- 
croachments of  the  colonists  upon  their  lands.  They 
determined  to  make  an  effort  to  regain  their  beautiful 
valleys. 

A  company  of  German  exiles  from  the  Khine  had 
come  under  the  direction  of  De  Graffenried.  The  proprieta- 
ries assigned  them  lands  that  belonged  to  the  Indians. 
Lawson,  the  surveyor-general  of  the  province,  and  Graffen- 
ried, when  on  an  exploring  tour  up  the  Neuse,  were  seized 
bv  a  party  of  Tuscaroras,  who  hurried  them  on,  day  and 
night,  to  one  of  their  villages.  There  several  chiefs  of  the 
tribe  held  a  council,  and  discussed  the  wrongs  they  had 
suffered  from  the  English.  They  finally  determined  to 
burn  the  man,  who  with  compass  and  chain  had  marked 
out  their  lands  into  farms  for  the  settlers.  When  Graff- 
enried made  known  to  them  that  he  had  been  only  a  short 
time  in  the  country  ;  that  he  was  the  "chief  of  a  differ- 


THE  TUSCARORAS  EMIGRATE.  187 

tnt  tribe  from  the  English/'  and  moreover  promised  to   chap 

take  no  more  of  their  lands,  they  did  not  put  him  to  death  L, 

with  Lawson.  He  was  kept  a  prisoner  five  weeks,  and  1712 
then  permitted  to  return  home.  During  this  time,  the 
Tuscaroras  and  their  allies,  the  Corees,  had  attacked  the 
settlements  on  the  Koanoke  and  Pamlico  sound.  The  1711 
carnage  continued  for  three  days,  and  many  of  the  poor 
people,  who  had  fled  from  persecution  at  home,  perished 
by  the  tomahawk  in  ths  land  of  their  adoption. 

The  people  appealed  to  Virginia  and  to  South  Carolina  1711 
for  aid.  Only  a  part  of  the  Tuscaroras  had  engaged  in 
the  attack.  With  another  portion  of  the  tribe,  Spots- 
wood,  governor  of  Virginia,  made  a  treaty  of  peace, — the 
only  assistance  he  could  give.  Governor  Craven  of  South 
Carolina  sent  to  their  aid  a  small  force,  and  a  number  of 
friendly  Indians.  These  drove  the  Tuscaroras  to  their 
fort,  and  compelled  them  to  make  peace.  These  same 
troops,  as  they  were  returning  home,  basely  violated  the 
treaty  just  made  ;  attacked  some  Indian  towns,  and  seized 
their  inhabitants  to  sell  them  as  slaves.  The  war  was  of 
course  renewed.  The  Tuscaroras,  driven  from  one  place 
of  concealment  to  another,  and  hunted  for  their  scalps  or 
for  slaves,  finally  abandoned  their  fair  lands  of  the  south ; 
emigrated  across  Virginia  and  Pennsylvania  to  the  home 
of  their  fathers,  and  there,  at  the  great  council-fire  of  the 
Iroquois,  or  Five  Nations,  on  Oneida  lake  in  New  York, 
were  admitted  into  that  confederacy,  of  which  they 
became  the  sixth  nation.  At  this  time,  the  people  of  171! 
Pennsylvania  complained  of  the  importation  of  these  cap- 
tives into  their  colony.  A  law  was  therefore  enacted, 
forbidding  the  introduction  of  u  negroes  and  slaves,  as 
exciting  the  suspicion  and  dissatisfaction  of  the  Indians 
of  the  province." 

The  war  seemed  to  be  ended,  and  the  traders  of  Soutlt 
Carolina  especially,  extended  their  traffic  with  the  tribes 
vho  lived  in  the  region  between  that  colony  and  the  Mis* 


188  HIST0EY  OF  THE  AMEEICAN  PEOPLE. 

°xvP*  8^SS^PP^     Soon  aft©'*  these  traders  were  driven  from  the 

L  villages  of  some  of  the  more  western  tribes.     This  wai 

1713.    attributed  to  the  influence  of  the  French  of  Louisiana. 

The  Yamassees,  whom  we  have  seen  in  alliance  with 
the  colonists  against  the  Tuscaroras,  when  they  hoped  tc 
obtain  captives,  now  renewed  their  friendship  with  the 
*  Spaniards,  with  whom  they  had  been  at  variance, — for  they 
hated  the  priests,  who  attempted  to  convert  them.  They 
induced  the  Catawbas,  the  Creeks  and  the  Cherokees, 
who  had  also  been  allies  of  the  colonists  against  the 
Tuscaroras,  to  join  them.  This  alliance  was  likewise 
attributed  to  Spanish  and  French  influence.  Governor 
Spotswood  seems  to  have  revealed  the  truth,  when  he  wrote 
to  the  "  Board  of  Trade  "  in  London,  that  "  the  Indians 
never  break'  with  the  English  without  gross  provocation 
from  persons  trading  with  them."  These  tribes  had  been 
looked  upon  as  "  a  tame  and  peaceable  people,"  and  fair 
game  for  unprincipled  traders. 
1715.  The  savages  cunningly  laid  their  plans,  and  suddenly, 

one  morning,  fell  upon  the  unsuspecting  settlers,  killed 
great  numbers  and  took  many  prisoners.  The  people  fled 
toward  the  sea-shore.  A  swift  runner  hastened  to  Port 
Koyal  and  alarmed  the  inhabitants,  who  escaped  as  best 
they  could  to  Charleston.  The  Indians  continued  to 
prowl  around  the  settlements,  and  drove  the  inhabitants 
before  them,  until  the  colony  was  on  the  verge  of  ruin. 

The  enemy  received  their  first  check  from  forces  sent 
from  North  Carolina.  Governor  Craven  acted  with  his 
usual  energy,  he  raised  a  few  troops  and  went  to  meet  the 
savage  foe.  The  contest  was  long  and  severe  ;  in  the  end 
the  Indian  power  was  broken.  The  Yamassees  emigrated 
to  Florida,  where  they  were  welcomed  with  joy  by  the 
Spaniards  at  St.  Augustine.  The  other  tribes  retired  far- 
ther into  the  wilderness.  Yet  war-parties  of  the  Yamas- 
sees continued,  for  years,  to  make  incursions  against  the 
frontier  settlements,  and  kept  them  in  a  state  of  alarm* 


CHARTER    OF    TfiE    PROPRIETARIES    FORFEITED.  189 

v 

The  proprietaries  made  no  effort  to  protect  the  colo-   chap 

nists  or  to  share  the  expense  of  the  war.     They  at  length  

determined,  as  they  must  defend  themselves,  also  to  man-  1715. 
age  their  own  affairs,  and  they  resolved  "  to  have  no  more 
to  do  with  the  proprietaries,  nor  to  have  any  regard  to 
their  officers/'  On  the  other  hand,  the  proprietaries  com- 
plained that  the  "  people  were  industriously  searching  for 
grounds  of  quarrel  with  them,  with  the  view  of  throwing 
off  their  authority."  The  matter  was  brought  before  Par- 
liament, which  declared  the  charter  of  the  proprietaries  to 
be  forfeited. 

Francis  Nicholson,  who  for  many  years  had  been  ex- 
perimenting as  a  colonial  governor,  and,  as  he  said,  "  been 
falsely  sworn  out  of  Virginia  and  lied  out  of  Nova  Scotia," 
was  appointed  provisional  governor.  He  was  not  an  exam-  1720. 
pie  of  good  temper,  and  much  less  of  good  morals.  He 
made  a  treaty  with  the  Cherokees,  who  were  to  permit 
only  Englishmen  to  settle  on  their  lands  ;  and  with  the 
Creeks,  whose  hunting-grounds  were  to  extend  to  the 
Savannah.  He  had  battled  against  popular  rights  in  the 
north,  now  he  thought  best  to  make  his  path  easy,  and  he 
confirmed  all  the  laws  passed  by  the  revolutionary  Assem- 
bly. However,  when  he  left  the  country  he  mourned  over 
the  "  spirit  of  commonwealth  notions  which  prevailed," 
as  the  result,  as  he  said,  of  intercourse  with  the  New 
Englanders,  who,  at  this  time,  were  busily  engaged  in 
trading  with  the  Carolinas. 

These  disputes  were  at  length  ended  by  an  act  of  Par- 
'iament.     Seven  of  the  proprietaries  sold  out  their  claims 
to  the  government  of  England.     The  two  Carolinas  were    1729 
now  separated,  and  a  royal  governor  appointed  for  each. 


CHAPTER     XVI. 

COLONIZATION   OF  GEORGIA. 

Founded  in  Benevolence. — Oglethorpe. — First  Emigration. — Savannah. — 
Encouragements. — Germans  from  the  Western  Alps. — Augusta. — The 
Moravians. — Scotch  Highlanders. — The  Wesleys. — Whitefield,  his  Or- 
phan House. — War  with  Spain  ;  its  Cause. — Failure  to  Capture  St.  Au- 
gustine. Repulse  of  the  Spanish  Invaders. — The  Colony  becomes  a 
Royal  Province. 

chap.  We  have    seen   some   colonies  founded  as    asylums  for 

the   oppressed  for   conscience'  sake,  and  others  the.  off- 

1732.  spring  of  royal  grants  to  needy  courtiers, — bankrupt  in 
fortune,  and  sometimes  in  morals,  seeking  in  their  old  age 
to  retrieve  the  follies  of  their  youth.  It  is  now  a  pleasure 
to  record  the  founding  of  an  asylum  not  alone  for  the 
oppressed  for  conscience*  sake,  but  for  the  victims  of  un- 
.  righteous  law — a  colony  the  offspring  of  benevolence  ;  the 
benevolence  of  one  noble-hearted  man ;— one  who,  born 
in  affluence,  devoted  his  wealth,  his  mind  and  his  energies 
to  the  great  work.  James  Edward  Oglethorpe,  "  the  poor 
man's  friend,"  "  a  Christian  gentleman  of  the  Cavalier 
school,"  had  sympathy  for  the  unfortunate  who  were  im- 
mured within  prison  walls,  not  for  crime,  but  for  debt. 
He  labored  to  have  repealed  the  laws  authorizing  such 
imprisonment,  and  to  reform  the  entire  prison  discipline 
of  England. 

His  efforts  did  not  end  here  ;  he  desired  to  provide  in 
America  an  asylum  for  those  who  were,  while  in  their  own 
land,  at  the  mercy  of  heard-hearted  creditors,  as  well  as 


James  Edward  Oglethorpe 


A  TRUST  FOB  THE  POOR.  191 

a  place  of  refuge  for  the  poor,  where  comfort  and  happi-   c**ap 

ness  might  be  the  reward  of  industry  and  virtue.     There   1 

were,  at  this  time,  in  England,  more  than  four  thousand    1732. 
men  in  prison  for  debt,  with  no  hope  of  relief.     Through 
his  exertions,  "multitudes   were   restored  to   light   and 
freedom,  who  by  long  confinement  were   strangers   and 
helpless  in  the  country  of  their  birth/' 

Others  became  interested  in  his  schemes  of  benevo- 
lence, and  a  petition  numerously  signed  by  men  of  influ- 
ence and  family  was  presented  to  the  king.  They  asked 
a  charter  to  colonize  the  territory  south  of  the  Savannah 
river,  then  included  in  Carolina,  with  unfortunate  debtors, 
and  with  Protestants  from  the  continent  of  Europe.  A 
grant  was  given  by  George  II.  of  the  region  lying  between 
the  Savannah  and  the  Altamaha,  and  from  their  head 
springs  west  to  the  Pacific.  The  territory  was  to  be 
known  as  Georgia.  It  was  given  "  in  trust  for  the  poor  " 
to  twenty-one  trustees  for  the  space  of  twenty-one  years. 
The  trustees  manifested  their  zeal  by  giving  their  services 
without  any  reward. 

The  climate  of  this  region  was  thought  to  be  very  fa- 
vorable for  the  raising  of  silk-worms,  and  the  cultivation 
of  the  grape.  Merchants,  therefore,  who  could  not  be 
otherwise  influenced,  were  induced  to  favor  the  cause  by 
hopes  of  gain.  The  u  free  exercise  of  religion  "  was  guar- 
anteed to  all  "  except  papists."  Under  no  conditions  was 
land  to  be  granted  in  tracts  of  more  than  five  hundred 
acres.  This  was  designed  to  enable  the  poor  to  become 
owners  of  the  soil,  and  to  prevent  the  rich  from  monopo- 
lizing the  best  lands. 

Much  interest  was  taken  in  this  new  field  of  benevo- 
lence, and  donations  were  made  by  all  classes  of  society. 
What  a  transition  for  the  poor  debtor  I  He  was  to  ex- 
change the  gloomy  walls  of  a  prison  for  a  home  in  that 
delightful  land,  where  grim  poverty  never  would  annoy 
him  more  I     It  was  determined  to  take  as  colonists  only 


192  HISTORY  OF  THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE. 

chap,    the  most  needy  and  helpless,  and,  as  far  as  possible,  ex- 

1  elude  those  of  bad  morals. 

1782.  Thirty-five  families,  numbering  altogether  one  hundred 

and  fifty  persons,  embarked  for  their  new  homes.  While 
others  gave  to  the  enterprise  their  substance  and  influ- 
ence, Oglethorpe  volunteered  to  superintend  the  colony  in 
•  person.  They  took  with  them  "  a  clergyman  with  Bibles, 
Prayer-books,  and  Catechisms/'  and  one  person  who  was 
skilled  in  the  raising  of  silk.  The  company  landed  first 
at  Charleston  ;  by  a  vote  of  the  Assembly,  they  were 
welcomed,  and  presented  with  supplies  of  rice  and  cattle. 
Oglethorpe  hastened  to  explore  the  Savannah.  On  a 
bluff  twenty  miles  from  its  mouth  he  planted  his  colony. 
This  bluff  was  already  in  the  possession  of  a  small  band 
of  Indians,  from  whom  it  was  named  the  Yamacraw. 
Through  the  efforts  of  Mary  Musgrove,  who  acted  as  in- 
terpreter, the  bluff  was  purchased.  This  woman  was  a 
daughter  of  a  Uchee  chief,  and  had  been  sent  to  school 
in  Charleston,  where  she  had  married  an  English  trader. 

1J88.  The  colonists  immediately  began  to  build  and  fortify 

their  town,  which  they  named  Savannah,  the  Indian  name 
of  the  river.  The  town  was  regularly  laid  out,  with  wide 
streets  and  spacious  squares.  A  garden  of  some  acree 
was  inclosed  for  a  nursery  of  mulberry-trees  to  feed  silk- 
worms ;  and  here  also  experiments  were  made,  in  order  tc 
introduce  European  fruits. 

The  aged  chief  of  the  little  band  of  Indians  wished 
protection.  He  presented  to  Oglethorpe  a  buffalo  skin, 
on  the  inside  of  which  was  painted  an  eagle.  "  The  eagle," 
said  he,  "  signifies  speed,  and  the  buffalo  strength ;  the 
English  are  swift  as  the  eagle,  for  they  have  flown  over 
vast  seas  ;  they  are  as  strong  as  the  buffalo,  for  nothing 
can  withstand  them  ;  the  feathers  of  the  eagle  are  soft, 
and  signify  love  ;  the  buffalo's  skin  is  warm,  and  signifies 
protection ;  therefore,  I  hope  the  English  will  love  and 
protect    our   little  families."      The   hopes  of   poor   old 


EMIGRANTS  ;    LUTHERANS.  193 

Tomochechi  and  his  tribe  were  doomed  to  be  sadly  dis-   chap 
appointed.  

The  genial  climate  delighted  the  colonists,  and  they  1788. 
went  cheerfully  to  work,  building  their  houses.  The 
chiefs  of  the  lower  Creeks  came  and  made  a  treaty  ;  they 
acknowledged  the  English  rule  from  the  Savannah  to  the 
St.  John's,  and  west  to  the  Chattahoochee,  and  gave 
them  permission  to  cultivate  the  lands  not  used  by  their 
own  people.  Then  came  a  messenger  from  the  distant 
Cherokees,  pledging  the  friendship  of  his  tribe.  Soon 
after  came  a  Choctaw  chief  saying,  "  I  have  come  a 
great  way  ;  I  belong  to  a  great  nation  ;  the  French  are 
among  us  ;  we  do  not  like  them  ;  they  build  forts  and 
trade  with  us  ;  their  goods  are  poor,  and  we  wish  to  trade 
with  you."  Thus  the  way  was  opened  for  a  profitable 
traffic  with  the  tribes  north  of  the  gulf,  and  west  to  the 
Mississippi. 

The  fame  of  this  delightful  land  reached  Europe,  and 
penetrated  even  into  the  fastnesses  of  the  western  Alps. 
There,  long  ages  before  the  Reformation,  a  pure  gospel 
had  been  taught.  Now  a  persecution  was  raging,  and  the 
sufferings  of  these  Christians,  now  become  Lutherans,  deep- 
ly enlisted  the  sympathies  of  the  English  people.  These 
Germans  were  invited  by  the  "  Society  for  the  Propaga- 
tion of  the  Gospel/'  to  emigrate  to  Georgia,  where  they 
could  be  free  from  their  persecutors,  and  lands  were  offered 
them  ;  but  they  rejoiced  more  than  all  in  the  opportunity 
given  them  to  carry  the  gospel  to  the  Indians.  Money 
was  subscribed  by  the  benevolent  in  England  to  enable 
them  to  travel  from  Augsburg,  across  the  country  to 
Frankfort  on  the  Main.  Nearly  one  hundred  set  out  on 
their  pilgrimage ;  they  took  with  them,  in  wagons,  their 
wives  and  children  ;  their  Bibles  and  books  of  devotion. 
The  men  as  they  travelled  on  foot  beguiled  the  toils  of  their 
journey  by  singing  praises  to  God,  and  offering  prayers  for 
his  guiding  hand,  and  his  blessing  on  their  enterprise. 


194  ttlSIOUY   Oi?  THE   AMEEICAS"   PliOFLiS. 

chap.  They  passed  down   the   Main  to  its  junction  with  the 
1  Khine,  and  thence  floated  down  to  Kotterdani,  where  they 

1783.  were  joined  hy  two  clergymen,  Bolzius  and  Gronau.  They 
sailed  to  England,  and  were  there  met  and  encouraged  by 
a  committee  of  the  trustees,  and  thence  to  their  distant 
home  across  the  ocean.     The  faith  that  had  cheered  them 

♦  on  their  native  mountains,  sustained  them  amid  the 
storms  of  the  Atlantic  ;  when,  during  a  terrible  tempest, 
the  waves  broke  over  the  ship,  and  caused  an  outcry  of 
alarm  from  the  English,  they  continued  their  devotions 
and  calmly  sung  on.  When  one  of  them  was  asked, 
"  Were  you  not  afraid  p  "  "I  thank  God,  no,"  was  the 
reply.  "  But  were  not  your  women  and  children  afraid  ?  " 
"  No,  our  women  and  children  are  not  afraid  to  die." 

A  passage  of  fifty-seven  days  brought  them  to  receive 
a  hearty  welcome  at  Charleston  from  Oglethorpe,  and  in 

1784.  less  than  a  week  they  were  at  their  journey's  end.  A 
suitable  place  had  been  chosen  for  their  residence,  they 
founded  a  village  a  short  distance  above  Savannah,  and 
significantly  named  it  Ebenezer.  In  gratitude  they  raised 
a  monumental  stone  as  a  memento  of  the  goodness  of  God 
in  thus  bringing  them  to  a  land  of  rest.  They  were  joined 
from  time  to  time  by  others  from  their  native  land.  By 
their  industry  and  good  morals  they  secured  prosperity, 
and  also  the  respect  of  their  fellow-colonists. 

At  the  head  of  boat  navigation  on  the  Savannah  the 
town  of  Augusta  was  now  founded.  This  soon  became 
an  important  trading  post  with  the  Indians. 

Oglethorpe  gave  himself  unweariedly  to  the  work  of 
benefiting  those  he  governed.  The  success  of  the  enter- 
prise may  be  safely  attributed  to  his  disinterested  labors. 
"  He,"  ^aid  Governor  Johnson,  of  South  Carolina,  "  nobly 
devotes  all  his  powers  to  save  the  poor,  and  to  rescue  them 
from  their  wretchedness."  After  the  residence  of  a  yeal 
and  a  half  he  returned  to  England,  taking  with  him 


JOHN    AND    CHARLES   WESLEY  195 

aeveral  Indian  chiefs,  and  raw  silk — the  product  of  the   ceap 
colony — sufficient  to  make  a  robe  for  the  queen.  , 

As  an  inducement  for  settlers,  the  trustees  offered  to  1734. 
each  one  who  should  emigrate,  at  his  own  expense, 
fifty  acres  of  land.  On  these  conditions  came  a  number 
of  Moravians  or  United  Brethren,  with  the  intention  of 
devoting  themselves  to  the  conversion  of  the  Indians.  1735. 
They  formed  a  new  settlement  on  the  Ogeechee,  south  of 
the  Savannah. 

The  same  benevolent  spirit  which  had  relieved  poor 
debtors  in  prison,  now  devised  measures  to  ward  off  one 
of  the  most  effective  causes  of  debt  and  wretchedness ; 
and  accordingly  the  importation  of  rum  into  the  colony 
was  prohibited.  The  trustees  also  forbid  negro  slavery, 
"  that  misfortune  of  other  plantations."  They  did  not 
wish  to  see  their  province  "filled  with  blacks,  the  preca- 
rious property  of  a  few."  They  looked  upon  it  as  cruel 
and  inhuman,  and  injurious  to  the  "  poor  white  settlers," 
for  whom,  in  trust,  they  held  the  colony. 

The  next  year  Oglethorpe  returned,  with  more  emi-  173ft 
grants,  among  whom  was  a  party  of  Scotch  Highlanders, 
with  their  minister,  John  McLeod.  These  founded  a  set- 
tlement at  Darien,  on  the  Altamaha.  There  likewise 
came  two  young  men  as  preachers  to  the  people,  and  as 
missionaries  to  the  Indians.  These  were  the  brothers 
John  and  Charles  Wesley, — men  of  ardent  piety  and  zeal- 
ous in  the  cause  of  religion,  they  hoped  to  make  the 
colony  eminent  for  its  religious  character.  Enthusiastic 
in  their  feelings,  and  perhaps  a  little  wanting  in  discretion, 
certainly  in  experience,  they  were  soon  involved  in  trouble. 
For  a  time,  John  Wesley  drew  crowds  of  hearers  ;  places 
of  amusement  were  almost  deserted.  We  doubt  not  that 
he  spoke  the  truth  plainly,  and  in  accordance  with  his 
duty,  but  his  austere  manners  and  denunciation  of  sin 
created  him  enemies.  In  one  case,  his  severe  exercise  of 
church  discipline  excited  bitter  feeling  against  himself, 


196  HISTORY    OF   THE   AMERICAN    PEOPLE. 

chap,    and    sympathy  for  the  victim  of   his  injudicious  zeal 

Charles  Wesley  was,  for  awhile,  the  secretary  of  Ogle- 

1788.  thorpe,  but  in  some  unexplained  manner  he  gave  offence 
to  his  patron  ;  at  length  an  explanation  took  place,  and  a 
reconciliation.  Kind  and  gentle  in  his  nature,  he  was 
unfitted  to  endure  the  hardships  to  be  encountered,  and 
.  to  sympathize  with  the  unpolished  colonists  of  Georgia. 
After  a  residence  of  less  than  two  years,  the  Wesleys,  dis- 
appointed in  their  hopes  of  doing  good  there,  left  the 
colony  forever.  In  their  native  land  they  became  the 
founders  of  the  denomination  of  Methodists,  who  have 
been,  in  that  very  colony,  as  well  as  in  others,  among  the 
foremost  in  carrying  the  gospel  to  destitute  settlements. 
Thus  their  labors  were  blessed,  their  prayers  were  an- 
swered, and  their  hopes  realized  ;  but,  as  is  often  the  case 
in  the  ways  of  Infinite  Wisdom,  not  in  the  form  and 
manner  in  which  they  expected. 

Just  as  the  Wesleys,  on  their  return  home,  were  pass- 
ing up  the  channel,  their  friend  and  fellow-laborer,  the 
celebrated  George  Whitefield,  the  most  eloquent  preacher 
of  his  day,  was  leaving  England  to  join  them  in  Georgia. 
Whitefield  had  commenced  preaching  when  a  mere  youth, 
and  by  his  wonderful  eloquence  drew  great  crowds.  He 
first  preached  in  the  prisons,  and  then  to  the  poor  in  the 
open  fields.  Now  he  felt  it  his  duty  to  visit  the  colonies. 
When  he  arrived  in  Georgia,  his  sympathies  were  much 
enlisted  in  behalf  of  the  destitute  children,  left  orphans. 
He  visited  the  Lutherans  at  Ebenezer,  where  he  noticed 
their  asylum  for  poor  children,  and  determined,  if  possible, 
to  found  a  similar  one.  By  his  fervent  zeal  in  the  cause 
he  obtained  sufficient  funds  in  England  and  America. 
The  institution  was  founded  a  few  miles  from  Savannah. 
During  his  lifetime  it  flourished  ;  at  his  death  it  began  to 
languish,  and  finally  passed  out  of  existence. 

The  Spaniards  were  not  pleased  with  the  encroach- 
ments of  the  English  upon  what  they  deemed  their  terri- 


ENGLISH    TRADERS  J    WAR    WITH    SPAIN.  197 

tory,  and  they  sent  commissioners  to  protest  against  it,  chap 

and  to  demand  the  surrender  of  all  Georgia  and  part  of    

Carolina.     When  this  was  unheeded,  they  prepared  to  ex-    1738, 
pel  the  invaders.     There  were  other  causes,  which  made 
it  evident  that  war  would  soon  take  place  between  the 
mother  countries,  in  which  the  colonies  would  certainly 
become  involved. 

The  European  governments  restricted  the  commerce 
of  their  colonies  so  as  to  make  them  subserve  their  own 
interests.  Those  belonging  to  Spain  must  trade  only  with 
the  port  of  Cadiz,  and  the  merchandise  shipped  to  them 
was  sold  at  enormous  prices.  The  English  traders  per- 
sisted in  smuggling  goods  into  the  Spanish  ports.  To 
accomplish  this  they  resorted  to  various  stratagems.  By 
treaty,  an  English  vessel  was  permitted  to  come  once  a 
year  to  Portobello  and  dispose  of  her  cargo  ;  but  this 
vessel  was  followed  by  others  ;  they  came  in  the  night 
time,  and  slipped  in  more  bales  to  supply  the  place  of 
those  sold,  and  continued  to  do  this,  till  the  market  was 
supplied.  Sometimes,  under  the  pretence  of  distress,  ships 
would  run  into  Spanish  ports,  and  thus  dispose  of  their 
cargoes. 

Though  Spain  was  rich  and  feeble,  she  was  haughty 
and  cruel ;  and  when  any  of  these  worthies,  who  were 
engaged  in  violating  her  laws,  were  caught,  they  were 
severely  dealt  with.  Sometimes  they  were  imprisoned, 
and  sometimes  their  ears  were  cropped.  This  exasperated 
the  traders,  and  though  justly  punished,  they  came  with 
the  assurance  of  ill-treated  men,  to  ask  protection  from 
their  own  government.  They  were  looked  upon  as  mar- 
tyrs to  the  cause  of  free  commerce,  and  merchants,  in 
defence  of  such  men  as  these,  did  not  blush  to  clamor  for 
war,  in  the  face  of  justice  and  national  integrity.  In 
truth,  the  English  government  connived  at  this  clandes- 
tine trade,  and  secretly  rejoiced  at  the  advantage  gained 
over  her  rival.     By  this  connivance  at  injustice  she  gave 


198  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN"    PEOPLE. 

chap,   her  own  colonies  a  lesson  on  the  subject  of  their  trade 

which,  in  less  than  half  a  century,  she  found,  to  her  sur- 

1738.    prise,  they  had  fully  learned. 

Another  source  of  irritation  to  the  people  of  South 
Carolina,  was  that  slaves,  who  ran  away  to  Florida  and 
put  themselves  under  Spanish  protection,  were  not  onlj 
T  welcomed,  but  given  lands  ;  organized  into  military  com- 
panies, and  armed  at  the  public  expense.  A  demand 
made  upon  the  authorities  at  St.  Augustine  to  restore  the 
runaways,  was  promptly  refused.    Oglethorpe  hastened  to 

1737.  England  to  make  preparations  for  the  coming  contest,  and 
returned  in  less  than  a  year,  with  a  regiment  of  six  hun- 
dred men,  which  he  himself  had  raised  and  disciplined. 
He  was  now  prepared  to  defend  the  southern  boundary  of 
Georgia.  He  renewed  treaties  with  the  Indian  tribes 
north  of  the  Gulf  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Mississippi, 
and  hoped  to  retain  them  in  his  interest.     War  was,  at 

l739>  length,  declared  by  England  against  Spain,  and  Ogle- 
thorpe received  orders,  as  military  commander  in  Georgia 
and  the  Carolinas,  to  invade  Florida.  With  his  usua, 
energy,  he  hastened  to  Charleston  to  make  the  necessary 
preparations.  Supplies  were  voted  and  a  regiment  en- 
listed ;  and,  joined  by  Indian  allies,  he  set  out  to  lay 
siege  to  St.  Augustine.  He  found  the  garrison  much 
more  numerous  than  he  expected,  and  the  fortifications 
stronger.  After  a  short  siege,  the  Indians  began  to  desert, 
and  the  Carolina  regiment,  enfeebled  by  sickness,  returned 
home.  In  five  weeks  the  enterprise  was  abandoned.  On 
this  occasion,  Oglethorpe  exhibited  the  kindness  of  his 
nature  ;  he  endured  all  the  privations  of  the  common  sol- 
diers.    The  captives  taken  were  treated  kindly,  no  houses 

1740.    were  burned,  and  but  little  property  destroyed. 

This  war  had  a  very  bad  effect  upon  the  colony  of 
Georgia.  Instead  of  making  farmers  of  the  settlers,  it 
made  them  soldiers,  and  their  farms  were  neglected.  The 
Moravians,  who  were  religiously  opposed  to  bearing  arms, 


THE    SPANIARDS   INVADE    GEORGIA. 


199 


emigrated,   one   and   all,   to   Pennsylvania,  where    they  c|y^ 
founded  the  towns  of  Bethlehem  and  Nazareth.  , 

It  was  ere  long  the  turn  of  Georgia  to  be  invaded.    1W0« 
For    this    purpose,  the    Spaniards  at    Havana   and    St. 
Augustine  fitted  out  thirty-six  vessels  and  three  thousand    1748 
troops.     The   commander,  Monteano,  instead  of   sailing 
direct  for  Savannah,  became  entangled  among  the  islands, 
near  the  mouths  of  the  St.  Mary  and  the  Altamaha,  while 
endeavoring  to  take  possession  of  one  or  two  insignificant 
settlements.     Oglethorpe  ascertained  the  intention  of  the 
enemy,  but  as  he  had  received  no  assistance  from  Carolina, 
was  ill  prepared  to  meet  them.     Having  but  eight  hun- 
dred  men,  he   was  forced  to  retreat  from   Cumberland    j^ 
island  to  St.  Simons,  on  which  was  the  little  town  of 
Frederica,  the  special  object  of  the  Spanish  attack. 

After  the  enemy  landed  he  went  to  surprise  them  in 
the  night,  but  as  he  approached  their  lines,  one  of  his 
soldiers,  a  Frenchman,  fired  his  gun,  rushed  into  the  ene- 
my's camp,  and  gave  the  alarm.  Oglethorpe  employed 
stratagem  to  throw  suspicion  upon  the  deserter  ;  he  wrote 
him  a  letter,  in  which  he  addressed  him  as  a  spy  for  the 
English,  and  directed  him  to  induce  the  Spaniards  to 
attack  them,  or  at  least  to  remain  where  they  were  until 
the  English  fleet  of  six  men-of-war,  which  had  sailed  from 
Charleston,  should  reach  St.  Augustine,  and  capture  it. 
This  letter  he  bribed  a  Spanish  prisoner  to  carry  to  the 
Frenchman.  As  was  to  be  expected,  it  was  taken  imme- 
diately to  the  Spanish  commander,  and  the  Frenchman 
soon  found  himself  in  irons.  In  the  midst  of  the  alarm, 
some  Carolina  ships,  laden  with  supplies  for  Oglethorpe, 
appeared  in  the  offing.  Thinking  these  the  veritable  men- 
of-war  mentioned  in  the  letter,  the  invaders  determined 
to  attack  and  destroy  Frederica,  before  they  should  sail 
to  defend  St.  Augustine.  On  the  way  they  fell  into  an 
ambuscade,  and,  at  a  place  since  known  as  the  "  Bloody 
Marsh,"  they  were  signally  defeated.     The  following  night 


200  HISTORY    OF   THE    AMERICAN    PEOPLE. 

chap,   they  embarked,  and  sailed  to  defend  St.  Augustine  from 

,  the  expected  attack.     Thus  Georgia  and  the  Carolinas 

1743.    were  saved  from  ruin. 

The  following  year  Oglethorpe  left  the  colony  forever. 
There  he  had  spent  ten  years  of  toil  and  self-denial ;  he 
had  for  his  reward  no  personal  benefit,  but  the  satisfaction 
•  of  founding  a  State,  and  of  leaving  it  in  a  prosperous  con- 
dition. The  form  of  government  was  changed  from  a 
military  to  a  civil  rule,  and  the  various  magistrates  were 
appointed. 

In  time,  slavery  was  gradually  introduced.  Slaves 
were  at  first  hired  from  the  Carolinas,  for  a  short  time, 
and  then  for  one  hundred  years.  The  German  settlers 
were  industrious  and  frugal,  and  so  were  the  Highlanders. 
They  were  opposed  to  the  introduction  of  slaves.  On  the 
other  hand,  great  numbers  of  the  English  settlers  were 
idle  and  bankrupt  from  their  improvidence  ;  "  they  were 
unwilling  to  labor,  but  were  clamorous  for  privileges  to 
which  they  had  no  right."  They  contended  that  rum  was 
essential  to  health  in  that  climate,  and  that  none  but 
slaves  could  cultivate  the  soil  of  Georgia  ;  and,  in  seven 
years  after  the  benevolent  Oglethorpe  left,  slave  ships 
brought  negroes  to  Savannah,  direct  from  Africa. 

1750.  The  trustees,  when  the  twenty-one   years  for  which 

they  were  to  manage  the  "  colony  for  the  poor w  were 
expired,  resigned  their  trust,  and  Georgia  became  a  royal 

1768.    province. 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

NEW  ENGLAND  UNDER  CHARLES  II.  AND  JAMES  H. 

The  Restoration. — The  Commissioners. — Progress  of  Trade. — Causes  c£ 
King  Philip's  War.— Death  of  Wamsutta. — State  of  the  Colony.— At- 
tack at  Swanzey. — Philip  among  the  Nipmucks. — Attacks  on  Northfield, 
and  on  Hadley. — Goffe. — The  Tragedy  at  Bloody  Brook. — Philip  among 
the  Narragansets. — Their  Fort  captured. — The  Warriors  take  Revenge. 
— Philip  returns  to  Mount  Hope  to  die. — Disasters  of  the  War. — James 
II. — The  Charters  in  danger. — Andros  Governor  ;  his  illegal  Measures ; 
takes  away  the  Charter  of  Rhode  Island ;  not  so  successful  at  Hart- 
ford.— Andros  in  Jail.—  The  Charters  resumed. 

The  first  intimation  of  the   restoration  of   Charles  II.  chaf 

was  brought  to  New  England  by  two  fngitives,  Whalley    

and  Goffe.  They  came  branded  as  regicides,  for  they  sat  \e,na, 
on  the  trial  of  Charles  I.  They  had  fled  for  their  lives  ; 
ere  long  came  the  royal  command  to  deliver  them  up  to 
their  pursuers,  that  they  might  be  taken  back  to  England 
and  there  punished.  But  royal  commands  and  rewards 
were  of  no  avail,  the  stern  republicans  were  not  betrayed  ; 
the  people  gloried  in  protecting  them. 

Kumors  were  afloat  that  the  governments  of  all  the 
colonies  were  to  be  changed,  and  that  soon  armed  ships 
might  be  expected  in  the  harbor  of  Boston,  sent  to  enforce 
the  royal  authority.  After  a  year's  delay,  it  was  thought 
prudent  to  proclaim  Charles  as  king.  It  was  done  ungra- 
ciously, as  all  manifestations  of  joy  were  forbidden. 

From  time  to  time  intelligence  came  of  the  execution 
of  many  of  their  best  friends  in  England  ;  among  these 
were  Hugh  Peters  and  Sir  Harry  Vane  :  news  came  also 


202  HISTORY    OF   THE    AMERICAN    PEOPLE. 

chap,  that  Episcopacy  was  again  in  power,  and  that  more  than 

two  thousand  clergymen  had  been  driven  from  their  con- 

1663.  gregations  because  they  would  not  conform.  At  length, 
two  agents  were  sent  to  conciliate  the  king,  and  to  make 
guarded  professions  of  loyalty,  as  well  as  to  ask  permission 
to  make  laws  against  the  Quakers. 

Connecticut  and  Bhode  Island  had  both  received  lib- 
eral charters  from  Charles,  the  former  obtained  principally 
through  the  influence  of  the  younger  Winthrop.  Mean- 
time the  intolerance  of  Massachusetts  had  raised  up 
against  her  a  host  of  enemies,  who  were  continually  whis- 
pering their  complaints  into  the  royal  ear.  The  alarm  was 
presently  increased,  by  information  that  commissioners 
had  been  appointed  to  inquire  into  the  affairs  of  the 
colony.  To  provide  for  the  future,  the  charter  was,  for 
safe-keeping,  secretly  given  to  a  committee  appointed  by 
the  General  Court. 

When  the  commissioners  came,  they  outraged  the 
prejudices  of  the  people  by  having  the  Episcopal  service 
performed  in  Boston.  The  Puritans  observed  the  evening 
of  Saturday  as  holy  time  ;  after  the  Jewish  custom,  they 
commenced  their  Sabbath  at  sunset.  As  if  to  annoy 
them,  the  commissioners  habitually  spent  their  Saturday 
evenings  in  carousals.  They  also  took  in  hand  to  redress 
grievances,  and  invited  all  those  who  had  complaints  to 
make  against  the  Massachusetts  colony,  to  bring  them  to 
their  knowledge.  Ehode  Island  came  with  her  complaints, 
and  the  Narraganset  chiefs  with  theirs  ;  but  the  General 
Court  cut  the  matter  short,  by  forbidding  such  proceed- 
ings, as  contrary  to  the  charter. 

The  laws  passed  by  the  mother  country  for  the  express 
purpose  of  crippling  the  trade  of  the  colonies,  could  not 
be  enforced,  and  Boston  especially  attracted  attention  by 
her  prosperous  commerce.  Industry  and  temperance  in- 
sured the  prosperity  of  the  people,  and  they  increased  in 
riches  and  in  numbers  ;  they  also  found  means  to  indulge 


CAUSES   Or   KING   PHILIP'S   WAR.  203 

their  taste,  and  began  to  embellish  their  villages.     Massa-   chat 

chusetts  traded  not  only  with  the  other  colonies,  but  her  

ships  were  found  in  every  sea  where  commerce  invited,    1663, 
and  not  only  England  traded  with  her,  but  France  and 
Spain,  Holland  and  Italy,  were  competitors  for  her  favors. 

For  forty  years  there  had  been  no  Indian  war  in  New 
England  ;  the  fate  of  the  Pequods  was  not  forgotten. 
During  this  time  the  number  of  the  Indians  had  not 
diminished,  while  that  of  the  colonists  had  greatly  in- 
creased. Their  farms  had  extended  in  every  direction  ; 
they  gradually  absorbed  the  best  lands  of  the  country, 
and  crowded  the  Indians  down  on  the  little  bays  and  pen- 
insulas, on  the  southern  shore  of  Massachusetts  and  Rhode 
Island.  This  policy  was  openly  avowed,  as  thereby  they 
could  be  more  easily  watched. 

The  Wampanoags  and  Narragansets  were  especially 
aggrieved.  They  could  not,  without  great  exertion,  obtain 
the  means  of  living  ;  the  animals  which  they  hunted,  had 
been  nearly  all  driven  away,  and  they  were  forced  to  de- 
pend upon  fish,  and  of  these  they  could  obtain  but  a 
scanty  supply,  and  they  had  not  learned  the  art  of  culti- 
vating the  soil,  but  in  a  very  rude  manner. 

Massasoit,  the  friend  who  had  welcomed  the  early 
Pilgrims,  left  two  sons,  Wamsutta  and  Metacom.  Years 
before  their  father's  death  these  young  men  went  to  Plym- 
outh, where  they  entered  into  friendly  relations  with  the 
English,  and  received  from  them  the  names  by  which  we 
know  them,  Alexander  and  Philip.  They  were  no  ordi- 
nary men,  they  seemed  to  have  perceived  from  the  first 
the  dangers  that  threatened  their  race.  If  so,  they  con- 
cealed their  impressions,  and  could  never  be  won  over  to 
the  religion  of  the  English.  When  Massasoit  died,  and 
Wamsutta  became  chief  sachem  of  the  Wampanoags,  the 
colonists,  incited  by  Uncas,  chief  of  the  Mohegans,  his 
bitter  enemy,  became  suspicious  of  him.     As  he  reposed 


204  HISTORY   OF   THE    AMERICAN    PEOPLE. 

aaAR    at  his  hunting  lodge  with  eighty  of  his  followers,  he  was 

1  surprised  by  Winslow,  who  had  been  sent  with  an  armed 

1671.  force  to  bring  him  to  the  court  at  Plymouth.  Wamsutta 
thought  not  of  danger  ;  his  arms  and  those  of  his  warriors 
were  outside  the  lodge  and  easily  secured.  When  Wins- 
low,  with  his  pistol  at  his  breast,  told  the  astonished  zhiei 
he  must  go  with  him,  his  proud  spirit  was  roused  to  bitter 
indignation.  His  exasperation  threw  him  into  a  fever  so 
violent,  that  he  was  unable  to  proceed  far.  In  conse- 
quence of  his  illness  he  was  permitted  to  return  home. 
"He  died  on  his  way.  He  was  carried  home  on  the  shoul- 
ders of  men,  and  borne  to  his  silent  grave  near  Mount 
Hope,  in  the  evening  of  the  day,  and  in  the  prime  of  his 
life,  between  lines  of  sad,  quick-minded  Indians,  who  well 
believed  him  the  victim  of  injustice  and  ingratitude  ;  for 
his  father  had  been  the  ally,  not  the  subject  of  England, 
and  so  was  he,  and  the  like  indignity  had  not  before  been 
put  upon  any  sachem."* 

It  is  natural  to  suppose  that  the  untimely  and  tragical 
fate  of  Wamsutta  gave  character  to  the  latent  hostility 
that  existed  in  the  mind  of  his  brother  Philip  toward  the 
English  race.  Soon  suspicions  fell  upon  him,  and  at  one 
time  he  was  harshly  treated,  and  compelled  to  give  up  his 
fire-arms.  A  praying  Indian,  who  lived  with  Philip,  told 
1675.  the  colonists  that  the  Wampanoags  entertained  some  de- 
signs against  them.  There  is  some  doubt  as  to  the  truth 
of  this  story  ;  however,  a  short  time  after  this  Indian  was 
found  murdered.  Suspicion  fell  upon  three  of  Philip's 
men,  who  were  apprehended  by  the  authorities  of  Plym- 
outh, and  brought  to  trial ;  they  were  pronounced  guilty 
by  a  jury  composed  of  English  and  Indians.  The  execu- 
tion of  these  men  aroused  the  slumbering  enmity  of  the 
tribe.  The  young  warriors  were  clamorous  for  war,  while 
the  old  men  dreaded  the  contest.     Philip,  from  his  supe- 

*  Elliott's  Hist,  of  New  England. 


THE   WAR   BEGINS   AT   SWANZEY.  205 

rior  sagacity,  foresaw  that  an  attempt    to   regain  their  C3Q£ 
lands  would  end  in  their  own  destruction.  

The  colonists  could  now  have  warded  off  the  strife  by  1675 
conciliating  the  Indians.  No  effort  was  made  to  soothe 
their  wounded  feelings,  they  were  treated  as  "  bloody 
heathen,"  whom  it  was  their  duty,  as  "  the  chosen  of  the 
Lord,"  to  drive  out  of  the  land.  Avarice,  contrary  to  ex- 
press law,  had  been  for  many  years  furnishing  the  savages 
with  fire-arms,  and  when  the  contest  came,  they  were  far 
more  formidable  than  the  Pequods  had  been  ;  to  conquer 
them  required  a  great  sacrifice  of  the  best  blood  of  the 
colony. 

Though  there  were  settlements  more  or  less  extending 
from  Boston  to  Westfield  on  the  west,  and  to  Northfield 
in  the  Connecticut  valley  on  the  borders  of  Vermont,  and 
on  the  north  to  Haverhill  on  the  Merrimac,  there  were 
vast  solitudes,  whose  secret  glens  and  hiding-places  were 
known  only  to  the  Indians.  The  spirit  of  the  tribes  near 
the  settlements  was  broken  by  their  contact  with  the 
superior  whites,  but  Philip  had  under  his  control  seven 
hundred  brave  warriors,  who  rejoiced  in  their  freedom,  and 
scorned  to  be  the  subjects  of  any  white  chief  beyond  the 
great  waters.  They  not  only  rejected  the  religion  of  the 
white  man,  but  despised  those  tribes  who  had  adopted  it. 

In  prospect  of  the  threatened  war,  a  day  of  fasting 
and  prayer  was  observed  ;  as  the  people  were  returning 
from  church  at  Swanzey,  they  were  suddenly  attacked  by 
a  company  of  Philip's  men,  and  seven  or  eight  persons  Jun€ 
killed.  Philip  shed  tears  when  he  heard  that  blood  had 
been  shed  ;  the  dreaded  ruin  of  his  people  was  drawing 
near.  His  tribe,  single-handed,  entered  upon  the  con- 
test ;  the  others  were  either  the  allies  of  the  English  or 
indifferent.  He  scorned  to  desert  his  people,  or  forfeit  his 
character  as  a  warrior,  and  he  threw  himself  into  the  con- 
test with  the  whole  energy  of  his  nature. 

The  war  began  within  the  bounds  of  the  Plymouth 


206  HISTOEY   OF   THE    AMERICAN    PEOPLE. 

chap,   colony  ;  but  volunteers  hastened  to  its  aid  from  Massa- 

chusetts.     The  army  invaded  the  territory  of  the  Wam- 

16T5.  panoags,  and  in  a  few  weeks  Philip,  driven  from  Mount 
Hope,  became  a  fugitive  among  the  Nipmucks,  a  tribe 
in  the  interior  of  Massachusetts.  After  the  flight  of 
Philip  and  his  warriors,  the  little  army  went  into  the 
.territory  of  the  Narragansets,  and  compelled  them  to 
promise  neutrality,  and  also  to  deliver  up  the  fugitive 
Indians  who  should  flee  to  them.  They  fondly  hoped  the 
war  was  at  an  end  ;  but  this  was  only  its  beginning. 

The  Nipmucks  were  induced  to  make  common  cause 
July-  with  Philip  and  his  tribe.  His  warriors,  partially  armed 
24#  with  muskets,  prowled  round  the  settlements,  ruthlessly 
murdered  the  whites,  and  treated  their  remains  with  sav- 
age barbarity.  The  Indians  were  familiar  with  the  hidden 
paths  of  the  wilderness  ;  not  daring  to  meet  the  colonists 
in  open  conflict,  they  watched  for  opportunities  of  secret 
attack.  It  was  not  known  when  or  where  the  storm 
would  burst,  and  the  terror-stricken  inhabitants  along  the 
frontiers  fled  to  the  more  thickly  settled  portions. 

Superstition  added  her  terrors.  The  people  saw  an 
Indian  bow  drawn  across  the  heavens  ;  a  scalp  appeared 
on  the  face  of  the  eclipsed  moon  ;  troops  of  phantom 
horsemen  galloped  through  the  air  ;  the  howlings  of  the 
wolves  were  more  than  usually  fearful,  and  portended  some 
terrible  ruin  ;  whizzing  bullets  were  heard  in  the  whist- 
ling wind  ;  the  northern  lights  glowed  with  an  unusual 
glare — the  harbinger  of  the  punishment  of  sin.  They  be- 
gan to  enumerate  their  sins  ;  among  these  were  the 
neglect  of  the  training  of  children,  the  using  of  profane 
language,  the  existence  of  tippling  houses,  the  want  of 
respect  fo.r  parents,  the  wearing  of  long  and  curled  hair 
by  the  men,  the  flaunting  of  gaudy-colored  ribbons  by 
the  women  ;  and  intolerance  whispered  that  they  had 
been  too  lenient  to  the  Quakers. 

The  Nipmucks  had  fifteen    hundred  warriors  ;  with 


2. 


GOFFE    THE    REGICIDE.  207 

iome  of  these  Philip  hastened  to  the  valley  of  the  Con-   chap 

necticut,  and  spread  desolation  from  Springfield,  through  

all  the  settlements  to  the  farthest  town  of  Northfield.  1675. 

An  effort  was  made  to  win  hack  the  Nipmucks  to  Aug. 
their  old  allegiance  ;  and  Captain  Hutchinson,  son  of 
Anne  Hutchinson,  was  sent  with  twenty  men  to  treat 
with  them,  hut  the  whole  company  was  waylaid  and  mur- 
dered at  Brookfield.  That  place  was  "burned  ;  the  people 
fled  to  the  strongest  house,  which  was  besieged  two  days, 
and  finally  set  on  fire  ;  hut  providentially  a  storm  of  rain 
extinguished  the  flames,  and  others  coming  to  their  assist- 
ance, the  Indians  were  driven  off. 

The  enemy  concerted  to  make  their  attacks  on  the 
same  day  and  hour,  in  different  parts  of  the  country.  On 
the  Sabbath,  which  seems  to  have  been  chosen  by  them 
as  the  day  most  favorable  for  an  attack,  they  burned 
Deerfield  ;  and,  as  the  people  were  worshipping  in  church, 
they  attacked  Hadley.  Suddenly  there  appeared  a  tall 
and  venerable  looking  man,  with  a  white  flowing  beard, 
who  brandished  a  sword  and  encouraged  and  directed  the 
people  in  the  battle.  When  the  savages  were  driven  off, 
he  disappeared  ;  some  thought  him  an  angel,  specially 
sent  by  heaven  to  their  aid.  It  was  Goffe,  one  of  the  reg- 
icides of  whom  we  have  spoken.  These  regicides  had 
been  hunted  by  zealous  royalists  from  one  place  of  refuge 
to  another  ;  now  they  were  sheltered  by  the  good  minister, 
John  Davenport,  of  New  Haven  ;  now  by  friends  at  Mil- 
ford  ;  now  they  had  wandered  in  the  pathless  wilderness, 
and  once  they  had  heard  the  sound  of  their  enemies' 
horses,  as  in  hot  pursuit  of  them,  they  crossed  the  very 
bridge  under  which  they  were  secreted  ;  they  had  rested 
in  a  cave  on  the  top  of  "  West  Hock,"  New  Haven,  known 
to  this  day  as  the  "  Judges'  Cave,"  and  at  this  time  they 
were  living  secretly  in  the  house  of  minister  Russell,  at 
Hadley.  Thus  they  passed  their  remaining  years  ban- 
tubed  from  society  and  from  the  occupations  of  life. 


208  HISTORY   OP   THE    AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

chap.         A  company  of  chosen  young  men,  "  the  flower  of  tha 

1  county  of   Essex/'  eighty  in  number,  were  engaged  in 

1675.  bringing  the  fruits  of  harvest  down  from  the  vicinity  of. 
Deerfield  to  Hadley,  where  it  was  proposed  to  establish  a 
magazine  for  provisions.  They  fell  into  an  ambuscade  of 
seven  hundred  warriors,  and,  after  a  desperate  encounter, 
•  nearly  all  perished,  at  the  crossing  of  a  little  stream,  since 
called  the  "  Bloody  Brook." 
Sept-  Ere  long  the  nourishing  settlement  of  Hatfield  was 

attacked  ;  and  the  Indians  in  the  vicinity  of  Springfield 
were  induced  to  take  up  arms  ;  but  the  people  were  pre- 
Oot.  pared,  and  repulsed  them.  Philip  returned  home,  but 
finding  Mount  Hope  in  ruins,  he  went  among  the  Narra- 
gansets.  The  colonists  feared  that  he  would  induce  them 
to  join  him,  and  in  self-defence  they  resolved  to  treat 
them  as  enemies.  The  winter,  by  stripping  the  trees  and 
bushes  of  their  leaves,  had  deprived  the  Indians  of  their 
hiding  places,  and  the  swamps,  their  favorite  sites  for 
forts,  could  be  passed  over  when  frozen.  A  company  of 
one  thousand  men  set  out  to  attack  their  principal  fort. 
This  place  of  defence  contained  about  six  hundred  wig- 
wams and  nearly  three  thousand  of  the  tribe ;  warriors 
with  their  wives  and  children,  and  an  abundance  of  pro- 
visions for  the  winter.  They  thought  themselves  secure  ; 
they  had  taken  no  part  in  the  war. 

Guided  by  an  Indian  traitor,  the  army  marched  fifteen 
miles  through  a  deep  snow,  and  finally  arrived  at  the  Nar- 
raganset  fort,  situated  near  where  the  village  of  Kingston 
in  Bhode  Island  now  stands.  Their  fort,  surrounded  by 
a  palisade,  stood  in  the  midst  of  a  swamp,  and  was  almost 
inaccessible  ;  it  had  but  one  entrance,  the  narrow  passage 
l^0,  to  which^  was  along  the  body  of  a  fallen  tree.  After  a 
severe  contest  of  two  hours,  the  English  forced  themselves 
within  the  fort,  and  applied  the  torch  to  the  frail  and 
combustible  wigwams.  A  thousand  warriors  were  slain, 
and  hundreds  were    made   prisoners.      Their  provisions 


DEATH   OF   PHILIP.  209 

were  all  destroyed,  and  those  who  escaped  were  left  shel-   crap 

terless  in  the  winter  storms.     They  were  forced  to  dig  in  

the  snow  for  nuts  and  acorns  to  sustain  life,  and  great    1675. 
numbers  died  of  exposure  and  famine  before  spring.     The 
colonists  suffered  severely ;  they  lost  six  captains,  and  two 
hundred  and  fifty  men  killed  and  wounded. 

The  surviving  Narraganset  warriors  took  vengeance  ; 
they  went  from  place  to  place  ;  they  massacred,  they 
burned,  they  destroyed.  The  settlements  in  their  vicinity 
were  abandoned.  Though  Khode  Island  had  not  joined 
in  the  war,  they  made  no  distinction,  and  Providence  was 
almost  destroyed.  The  now  aged  Koger  Williams  felt 
it  his  duty  to  act  as  captain,  in  defending  the  town 
he  had  founded.  Bands  of  warriors  swept  through  and 
through  the  territory  of  Plymouth,  and  the  people  were 
on]y  safe  when  within  their  forts.  Towns  in  different 
parts  of  the  country  were  attacked  at  the  same  time  ;  the 
enemy  seemed  to  be  every  where. 

The  majority  of  the  Indians  continued  to  fight ;  and  167*. 
though  they  fought  without  hope,  they  preferred  death  to 
submission.  Others  quarrelled  among  themselves,  charg- 
ing one  another  with  being  the  cause  of  the  war.  At 
length  the  Nipmucks  submitted  ;  and  the  tribes  on  the  J*"1* 
Connecticut,  having  grown  weary  of  the  contest,  would 
shelter  Philip  no  longer.  He  now  appealed,  but  in  vain, 
to  the  Mohawks  to  take  up  arms.  In  desperation,  he 
determined  to  return  and  die  at  Mount  Hope.  When 
one  of  his  followers  proposed  to  make  peace,  the  indignant 
chieftain  struck  him  dead  at  a  blow.  It  was  soon  noised 
abroad  that  Philip  had  returned  to  his  old  home.  Benja- 
min Church,  the  most  energetic  of  the  English  captains, 
surprised  his  camp,  dispersed  his  followers,  and  took  pris- 
oner his  wife  and  little  son.  Philip's  spirit  was  now 
crushed  ;  he  exclaimed  :  "  My  heart  breaks  ;  I  am  ready 
to  die ! "  A  few  days  after  he  was  shot  by  a  traitor  of  his  An* 
own  tribe.     His  orphan  boy  was  now  to  be  disposed  o£ 


210  HISTORY    OF   THE    AMERICAN   PEORLE. 

oh^p.    He  was  taken  to  Boston  ;  some  were  .in  favor  of  putting 

,  him  to  death,  others  of  selling  him  into  slavery.     The 

1676.    latter  prevailed,  and  the  last  prince  of  the  Wainpanoags, 

the  grandson  of  generous  old  Massasoit,  who  had  welcomed 

the  Pilgrims,  and  had  given  them  his  friendship,  was  sent 

to  toil  as  a  slave  under  the  burning  sun  of  Bermuda. 

After  the  close  of  the  war,  renewed  efforts  were  made 
to  convert  the  remaining  Indians,  but  without  success 
The  habits  of  a  people  are  not  easily  changed.  If  those 
who  came  in  contact  with  them  had  set  them  a  Christian 
example,  as  did  Eliot,  and  the  "learned  and  gentle" 
Mayhew,  the  effect  might  have  been  different.  The  war 
had  completely  broken  the  power  of  the  Indians.  The 
more  bold  emigrated  to  Canada,  and  avenged  themselves 
in  after  years,  by  guiding  war  parties  of  the  French  against 
the  English  settlements.  Some  went  to  the  west,  and,  it 
is  said,  their  descendants  are  at  this  day  roaming  over  its 
wide  prairies.  But  the  great  majority  lost  their  native 
independence,  and  became  still  more  degraded  by  marry- 
ing with  the  negroes.  At  this  day,  a  few  descendants  of 
the  warriors  who  once  roved  over  the  hills  and  valleys  of 
New  England,  may  be  seen  lingering  in  the  land  of  theii 
fathers. 

For  a  time  the  effect  of  the  war  was  disastrous  ; 
though  it  lasted  but  little  more  than  a  year,  a  dozen  vil- 
lages were  in  ashes,  and  others  nearly  destroyed.  Of  the 
private  dwellings,  a  tenth  part  had  been  burned,  six  hun- 
dred of  the  men  of  the  colony  had  perished  in  battle,  not 
to  mention  the  women  and  children  ruthlessly  massacred. 
AJmost  every  family  was  in  mourning.  The  expenses  of 
the  war  were  great,  and  for  years  weighed  heavily  upon 
the  people,  while  the  desolation  of  the  settlements  par- 
alyzed their  energies. 

No  aid  came  to  the  sufferers  from  England  ;  but  be  it 
remembered,  that  a  Non-conformist  church  in  Dublin 
»ent  them  five  hundred  pounds.     Instead  of  aiding  them. 


DESPOTISM   OF   JAMES.  211 

the  spendthrift  Charles  devised  means  to  extort  money   chap 

from  them  by  taxing  their  trade.     This  led  to  the  estab-  

lishment  of  a  royal  custom-house  in  Boston.  To  compel  1670. 
the  merchants  to*  pay  tribute,  he  threatened  to  deprive 
them  of  English  passes  for  their  ships  in  the  Mediterra- 
nean, where,  without  redress,  they  might  be  robbed  by 
pirates  along  the  Barbary  coast  ;  and  he  also  threatened 
to  deprive  them  of  their  trade  with  the  southern  colonies. 
These  threats  had  little  effect  upon  men  who  had  learned 
to  take  care  of  themselves. 

James  II.,  the  brother  and  successor  of  Charles,  was  1685. 
bigoted  and  stubborn  ;  a  Catholic  in  disguise,  he  wished 
to  establish  that  form  of  religion,  not  only  in  England, 
but  in  the  colonies.  The  more  easily  to  accomplish  this 
object  he  professed  to  be  very  tolerant,  and  proclaimed 
what  he  termed  an  Indulgence,  by  which  persecution  for 
religious  opinions  was  henceforth  to  end.  This  tolerance 
was  only  a  means  to  evade  the  laws,  which  prohibited  the 
introduction  of  Komish  ceremonies  and  doctrines  into  the 
Church  of  England.  He  became  a  bitter  persecutor  ;  in 
truth,  to  comprehend  the  idea  of  the  rights  of  conscience 
or  of  religious  freedom,  was  far  beyond  the  capacity  of 
James.  That  time-serving  politician,  Joseph  Dudley,  a 
native  of  Massachusetts,  who,  when  it  was  profitable,  was 
a  zealous  advocate  of  colonial  rights,  now  became  an  ear-  168^ 
nest  defender  of  the  prerogative  of  the  king.  He  was 
appointed  the  royal  president  of  Massachusetts,  until  a 
governor  should  arrive.  There  could  be  no  free  press 
under  a  Stuart,  and  Edward  Kandolph  was  appointed  its 
censor.  Eandolph  disliked  the  people  of  Massachusetts 
as  cordially  as  they  hated  him.  The  commission  of  Dud- 
ley contained  no  recognition  of  an  Assembly  or  [Represent- 
atives of  the  people.  James  was  at  a  loss  to  see  the  use 
of  a  legislature  to  make  laws,  when  his  wisdom  could  be 
appealed  to  for  that  purpose.  Dudley,  looked  upon  as 
the  betrayer  of  his  country's  liberties,  was  very  unpopu- 


212  HISTORY    OF   THE    AMERICAN    PEOPLE. 

c£££    lar,  while  Randolph  took  pains  to  have  his  character  as 

little  respected  at  court,  by  representing  him  as  having 

1686.    "  his  fortune  to  make,"  and  willing  to  "  cringe  and  bow 
to  any  thing." 

James  had  resolved  to  take  away  the  charters  of  all 
the  colonies  and  make  them  royal  provinces.  Ere  long 
,came  Sir  Edmund  Andros,  as  governor  of  all  New  Eng- 
land. A  fit  instrument  of  a  despot,  he  was  authorized 
to  impose  taxes,  to  appoint  his  own  council,  to  have  the 
control  of  the  militia,  to  prohibit  printing,  to  introduce 
Episcopacy,  and  to  enforce  the  laws  restricting  the  trade 
of  the  colonies.  That  he  might  have  the  means  to  fulfil 
his  instructions,  he  brought  two  companies  of  soldiers — the 
first  ever  stationed  in  New  England.  As  a  reward  for  his 
desertion  of  the  people's  rights,  Dudley  was  appointed 
Chief  Justice,  and  the  busy  Randolph  Colonial  Secretary, 
and  William  Stoughton,  through  the  influence  of  Dudley, 
was  named  one  of  the  council.  Now  followed  a  series  of 
measures  exceedingly  annoying  to  the  people.  Their 
schools  were  left  to  languish.  To  assemble  for  delibera- 
tion on  any  public  matter  was  forbidden ;  but  it  was 
graciously  permitted  them  to  vote  for  their  town  officers. 
The  customs  of  the  country  were  not  respected.  The 
usual  form  of  administering  en  oath  was  that  of  an  appeal 
to  heaven  by  the  uplifted  hand  ;  the  form  now  prescribed 
was  that  of  laying  the  hand  on  the  Bible,  which  the  Pu- 
ritans thought  idolatrous, — a  relic  of  popery.  Exorbitant 
fees  were  extorted  ;  those  who  held  lands  were  told  their 
titles  were  not  valid,  because  they  were  obtained  under  a 
charter  which  was  now  declared  to  be  forfeited  ;  and  when 
an*Indian  deed  was  presented,  it  was  decided  to  be  "  worth 
no  more  %  than  the  scratch  of  a  bear's  paw."  No  person 
could  leave  the  colony  without  a  pass  from  the  governor. 
No  magistrate  nor  minister — who  was  deemed  merely  a 
layman — could  unite  persons  in  marriage.  The  Episcopal 
clergyman  at  Boston  was  the  only  person  in  all  New  Eng- 


ANDROS    AT    HARTFORD.  213 

and  authorized  to  perform  that  ceremony.     Episcopacy   &&& 

was  now  fully  introduced,  and  the  people  required  to  fur-  

nish  funds  to  build  a  church  for  its  service.  A  tax  of  the  1686. 
game  amount  was  levied  upon  each  person,  poor  or  rich  ; 
this  some  of  the  towns  refused  to  pay.  John  Wise,  the  min- 
ister of  Ipswich,  was  bold  to  say  the  tax  was  unjust,  and 
ought  not  to  be  paid.  For  this  he  was  arrested.  When 
he  spoke  of  his  privileges  as  an  Englishman,  he  was  told 
the  only  privilege  he  could  claim  was  not  to  be  sold  as  a 
slave  ;  with  others,  he  was  fined  heavily.  When  it  was 
said  that  such  proceedings  would  affect  the  prosperity  of 
the  country,  it  was  openly  avowed  that  "  it  was  not  for 
his  majesty's  interest  that  the  country  should  thrive." 
n  No  man  could  say  that  any  thing  was  his  own." 

Andros  now  demanded  of  Khode  Island  her  charter, 
but  as  she  did  not  send  it,  he  went  to  Providence,  and 
breaking  the  seal  of  the  colony  declared  its  government 
dissolved.  He  then  went  with  an  armed  guard  to  Hart-  168^ 
ford,  and  demanded  the  charter  of  the  colony  of  Connec- 
ticut. The  Assembly  was  in  session.  The  members 
received  him  with  outward  respect.  The  discussion  of 
the  subject  was  protracted  till  evening,  and  when  candles 
were  lighted,  the  charter  was  brought  in  and  laid  on  the 
table.  As  the  eager  Andros  reached  forth  his  hand  to 
seize  the  precious  document,  the  lights  were  suddenly  put 
out  ;  when  they  were  relighted,  the  charter  was  gone. 
Captain  William  Wadsworth  had  slipped  it  away  and  hid 
it  in  a  hollow  tree.  Andros,  foiled  and  in  a  rage,  resolved, 
charter  or  no  charter,  the  present  government  should 
cease,  and  taking  the  book  of  records  of  the  Assembly, 
he  wrote  at  the  end  of  the  last  record  the  word  finis. 
The  tree  in  which  the  charter  was  hid  stood  for  more  than 
a  century  and  a  half,  and  was  visited  as  an  object  of  his-  1856 
torical  interest.  It  was  known  as  the  Charter  Oak.  A 
few  years  since  it  was  blown  down  in  a  violent  storm. 
Some  time  before,  a  lady  of  Hartford  gathered  from  it  an 


214  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

chap,   acorn,  which  she  planted.   The  good  citizens  of  that  place 
obtained  from  her  the  young  oak,  and  with  appropriate 

1687.  ceremonies  planted  it  on  the  spot  where  stood  the  parent 
tree. 

Happily  the  tyranny  of  Andros  was  soon  to  end. 
James,  in  his  zeal  to  promote  the  introduction  of  the 
Catholic  religion,  had  aroused  against  him  the  entire 
English  people.  They  invited  William,  Prince  of  Orange, 
the  husband  of  Mary,  the  eldest  daughter  of  James,  to 
take  possession  of  the  throne.  After  finding  that  his  des- 
potic measures  and  insincerity  had  lost  him  his  kingdom, 
James  fled,  and  the  Prince  of  Orange,  under  the  title  of 
William  III.,  ascended  his  vacant  throne. 

1688.  When  the  news  of  that  great  revolution,  which  estab- 
^?v*    lished  the  constitutional  rights  of  the   English   people, 

reached  Boston,  it  excited  the  greatest  joy  ;  now  they 
could  rid  themselves  of  the  tyrant.  Andros  imprisoned 
the  messenger  for  spreading  false  news.  The  trained 
bands  soon  assembled  in  arms.  The  craven  and  guilty 
governor,  bewildered  with  fear,  fled,  with  his  servile  coun- 
cil, to  a  fort  in  the  town.  The  aged  Simon  Bradstreet, 
now  more  than  fourscore,  who  was  one  of  the  original  emi- 
grants, and  had  been  a  magistrate,  was  urged  to  assume 
the  office  of  governor. 

A  declaration,  said  to  have  been  written  by  Cotton 
Mather,  was  published,  maintaining  the  rights  of  the  peo- 
ple, in  which  they  commit  the  enterprise  to  u  Him  who 
hears  the  cry  of  the  oppressed."  Andros,  in  the  mean 
time,  made  an  effort  to  escape  ;  but  he  and  Dudley,  with 
the  troublesome  Kandolph,  were  speedily  lodged  in  jail. 
Many  were  clamorous  for  their  punishment,  but  generous 
forbearance  prevailed,  and  they  were  sent  to  England  for 
trial. 

Connecticut,  paying  little  respect  to  the  "  Finis  "  of 
Andros,  now  brought  forth  her  charter  from  its  hidden 
place,  and  resumed  her  former  government.      Plymouth 


THE   MEN   OF   INFLUENCE.  215 

resumed  the   constitution    framed   on    board    the  May-   chap 

Flower,  and  Rhode  Island  her  charter.     The  people  of   

Massachusetts  voted  almost  unanimously  to  resume  theirs,    1688. 
but  a  moderate  party,  consisting  of  the  former  magistrates, 
and   some  of  the  principal  inhabitants,  chose  rather  to 
defer  it  for  the  present  ;  as  they  hoped  to  obtain  one 
from  William,  more  in  accordance  with  their  own  views. 

The  patriarchs  who  laid  the  foundation  of  the  New 
England  colonies  had  nearly  all  passed  away  ;  their  places 
were  filled  by  those  who  had  not  experienced  the  trials  of 
their  fathers,  but  had  learned  of  them  by  tradition.  The 
Puritans  lived  in  serious  times — times  that  made  rugged 
Christians  as  well  as  rugged  soldiers.  They  may  have 
lacked  the  gentler  graces  that  adorn  those  living  almost 
wo  centuries  later,  and  enjoying  greater  privileges,  when 
the  combined  influence  of  Christianity,  science,  and  refine- 
ment have  produced  a  more  perfect  effect.  They  consci- 
entiously filled  their  sphere  of  duty  in  the  age  in  which 
they  lived,  and  we  honor  their  memories. 

The  influence  of  their  ministers  was  the  influence  of 
mind  upon  mind,  enhanced  by  that  implicit  trust  reposed 
in  moral  worth.  They  were  peculiarly  the  educated  class ; 
the  people  looked  up  to  them  as  their  spiritual  instructors. 
They  were  the  friends  of  education,  and  wished  to  elevate 
the  children  of  their  flocks  by  cultivating  their  minds, 
and  training  them  for  usefulness  in  the  world; — what 
higher  position  for  his  children  could  the  Puritan  desire  ? 
In  process  of  time,  New  England  became  more  inviting 
to  men  of  education  belonging  to  the  professions  of  law 
and  medicine.  In  some  respects,  the  great  influence  of 
the  ministers  gradually  diminished,  not  because  of  dere- 
liction of  duty  on  their  part,  but  because,  in  temporal 
affairs,  especially,  the  management  passed,  by  degrees, 
into  the  hands  of  other  men  of  influence. 


CHAPTEK   XVIII. 

COMMOTION  IN  NEW  YORK.— WITCHCRAFT  IN  MASSACHUSETTS. 

Leialer  acting  Governor  of  New  York. — The  Old  Council  refuses  to  yield.— 
Captain  Ingoldsby. — Sloughter  Governor. — Bitterness  of  Parties. — Trial 
and  Execution  of  Leisler  and  Milbourne. — Death  of  Sloughter. — Fletcher 
Governor  ;  he  goes  to  Connecticut. — Yale  College. — The  Triumph  of  a 
Free  Press. — Witchcraft ;  belief  in. — Cotton  Mather. — The  Goodwin 
Children. — Various  Persons  accused  at  Salem. — Special  Court. — Parris 
as  Accuser,  and  Stoughton  as  Judge. — Minister  Burroughs. — Calefs 
Pamphlet. — Revulsion  in  Public  Sentiment. — Mather's  stand  in  favor 
of  Inoculation. 

chap,  Difficulties  with  royal  governors  were  by  no  means  con- 

rvm  fined  to  New  England.     The  people  of  New  York  were 

1590.    also  in  commotion,  though  not  so  much  united,  as   the 

Dutch  had  not  yet  cordially  associated  in  feeling  with  the 

English. 

James  had  appointed  a  Catholic  receiver  of  customs  ; 
this  annoyed  the  Protestants,  and  Nicholson  the  governor 
1689.  was  exceedingly  unpopular.  The  military  companies  went 
2^e  in  a  body  to  Jacob  Leisler,  a  respectable  and  generous- 
hearted  merchant,  and  their  senior  captain,  and  urged 
him  to  take  possession  of  the  fort  and  to  assume  the  man- 
agement of  affairs.  He  consented.  Leisler,  a  Presbyterian 
and  a  Dutchman,  was  an  enthusiastic  admirer  of  the 
Prince  of  Orange.  The  fort  and  public  money  were  taken, 
and  the  companies  pledged  themselves  to  hold  the  fort 
"for  the  present  Protestant  power  that  rules  in  England." 
Leisler  was  to  act  as  commander-in-chief  until  orders 
came  from  King  William,  to  whom  a  letter  was  sent  giv- 


LEISLEB   ACTING    GOVERNOR.  217 

ing  an  account  of  the  seizure  of  the  fort  and  also  of  the  S5£? 

money,  which  was  to  be  expended  in  building  another  at  

the  lower  part  of  the  island,  to  defend  the  harbor.  1689. 

As  a  large  majority  of  the  people  were  in  favor  of 
Leisler  and  of  the  proceedings  of  the  militia,  Nicholson, 
the  governor,  thought  best  to  carry  his  complaints  to 
England.  The  members  of  his  council,  claiming  to  be 
the  true  rulers  of  the  province,  went  to  Albany,  and  de-  Aug, 
nounced  Leisler  as  a  "  rebel." 

He  appointed  Milbourne,  his  son-in-law,  secretary. 
Afterward  the  people  at  Albany,  alarmed  on  account  of 
an  expected  attack  from  Canada,  asked  aid  from  New 
York  ;  Milbourne  was  promptly  sent  with  a  body  of  men 
to  their  assistance.  But  the  members  of  the  old  council 
refused  to  acknowledge  his  authority,  or  to  give  him  the 
command  of  the  fort.  To  avoid  bloodshed  he  returned, 
eaving  them  to  fight  the  French  as  they  could.  In  their 
extremity,  the  Albanians  obtained,  assistance  from  Con- 
necticut. Presently  came  a  royal  letter,  directed  to  Dec. 
"  such  as  for  the  time  being  administer  affairs."  It  con- 
tained a  commission  for  Nicholson  as  governor.  As  the 
latter  was  on  his  way  to  England,  Leisler  injudiciously 
proclaimed  himself  governor  by  virtue  of  the  letter,  and 
still  more  imprudently  ordered  the  members  of  the  refrac- 
tory council  at  Albany  to  be  arrested.  Meantime  an  As- 
sembly was  called  to  provide  for  the  wants  of  the  province. 

The  letter  sent  to  the  king  remained  unanswered,  but 
suddenly  an  English  ship  came  into  the  harbor,  having  on  njji, 
board  a  Captain  Ingoldsby,  and  a  company  of  soldiers  tJ*n- 
sent  by  Colonel  Henry  Sloughter,  who  had  been  appointed 
governor.  Encouraged  by  the  party  opposed  to  Leisler, 
Ingoldsby  demanded  the  surrender  of  the  fort.  He  was 
asked  his  authority  ;  as  he  had  none  to  show,  the  fort 
was  not  given  up.  Six  weeks  elapsed  before  Sloughter 
made  his  appearance ;  meanwhile,  a  collision  took  place 
between  the  soldiers  and  some  of  the  people,  and  blood 


218  HISTORY   OF  THE    AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

xvra   was  s^e(^*     ^^e  ktoerest  party  spirit  prevailed  ;  the  ene- 

mies  of  Leisler  resolved  on  revenge ;  and  when  he  came 

1691:  forward  to  resign  his  trust  to  the  regularly  appointed  gov- 
ernor, he  was  arrested,  and  with  Milbourne  taken  to  prison. 
j  q  The  charge  against  them  was  the  convenient  one  of  trea- 
son ;  their  enemies  knew  that  they  were  as  loyal  as 
themselves,  but  it  answered  their  purpose.  Immediately 
a  special  court  was  called  to  try  the  prisoners.  They  de- 
nied the  right  of  a  court  thus  constituted  to  try  them, 
and  refused  to  plead,  but  appealed  to  the  king.  They 
were,  however,  condemned,  and  sentenced  to  death  by  the 
degenerate  Dudley,  who,  driven  away  by  the  indignant 
people  of  Massachusetts,  now  appeared  as  Chief  Justice 
of  New  York. 

Sloughter  was  unwilling  to  order  their  execution,  and 
he  determined  to  leave  the  matter  to  the  king.  But  their 
blood,  and  it  alone,  could  satisfy  the  intense  hatred  of 
their  enemies.  To  accomplish  their  end  they  took  advan- 
tage of  one  of.  the  numerous  failings  of  the  governor. 
They  gave  him  a  dinner-party  ;  when  overcome  by  a  free 
indulgence  in  wine,  they  induced  him  to  sign  the  death- 
warrant  of  the  unfortunate  men.  About  daylight  the 
next  morning,  lest  Sloughter  should  recover  from  his  stu- 
mor and  recall  the  warrant,  Leisler  and  Milbourne  were 
hurried  from  their  weeping  families  to  the  gallows.  It 
was  whispered  abroad,  and  although  the  rain  poured  in 
torrents,  the  sympathizing  people  hastened  in  multitudes 
Hay  to  the  place  of  execution.  Said  Milbourne,  when  he  saw 
in  the  crowd  one  of  their  enemies,  "  Eobert  Livingston, 
I  will  implead  thee  for  this  at  the  bar  of  God."  The  last 
words  of  Leisler  were  :  "  Weep  not  for  us,  who  are  depart- 
ing to  our  God."  Said  Milbourne,  "I  die  for  the  king 
and  queen,  and  for  the  Protestant  religion ;  Father,  into 
thy  hands  I  commend  my  spirit.,,  When  the  execution 
was  over,  the  people  rushed  forward  to  obtain  some  me- 
morial of  their  friends — a  lock  of  hair,  or  a  piece  of  their 


16. 


BENJAMIN   FLETCHER   AT   HAETFORD.  219 

clothing.     This  judicial  murder  increased  the  bitterness   chap 

of  party  animosity.     The  friends  of  the  victims  were  the  

advocates  of  popular  rights,  in  opposition  to  the  royalists.  1691- 
All  that  could  be  was  done  in  time  to  remedy  the  wrong. 
Their  estates  were  restored  to  their  families,  and  Parlia- 
ment reversed  the  attainder  under  the  charge  of  treason. 
Dudley  even  opposed  this  act  of  justice.  Three  months 
after  this  tragedy,  delirium  tremens  ended  the  life  of  the 
weak  and  dissolute  Sloughter.  It  was  about  this  time 
that  the  "  ancient  Dutch  usages  "  gave  place  to  the  com- 
plete introduction  of  English  laws. 

A  year  had  elapsed,  when  Benjamin  Fletcher  came  as  169a 
successor  to  Sloughter.  He  was  a  military  officer,  arbi- 
trary and  avaricious.  His  sympathies  were  with  the  ene- 
mies of  Leisler.  As  New  York  was  on  the  frontiers  of  169S 
Canada,  all  the  colonies  were  expected  to  contribute  to 
her  defence.  To  make  this  more  effective,  an  effort  was 
made  to  put  the  militia  of  New  Jersey  and  Connecticut, 
as  well  as  that  of  New  York,  under  the  command  of 
Fletcher.  Accordingly,  he  went  into  Connecticut  to  en- 
force his  authority.  To  give  the  command  of  their  militia 
to  the  governor  of  another  colony,  was  to  sacrifice  the 
rights  of  the  people  under  the  charter.  The  Assembly 
was  in  session  at  Hartford,  and  the  militia  engaged  in 
training  when  Fletcher  arrived.  He  had  boasted  that  he 
"  would  not  set  foot  out  of  the  colony  until  he  was  obeyed." 
When  the  militia  were  drawn  up,  he  ordered  his  secretary 
to  read  in  their  hearing  his  commission.  When  he  com- 
menced to  read,  the  drummers  began  to  beat.  "  Silence," 
commanded  Fletcher.  For  a  moment  there  was  silence, 
and  the  reading  was  renewed.  "  Drum  !  drum  ! "  ordered 
Wadsworth,  the  same  who,  some  years  before,  hid  the 
charter.  Fletcher  once  more  ordered  silence.  The  sturdy 
captain,  stepping  up  to  him,  significantly  remarked,  "  If 
I  am  interrupted  again  I  will  make  daylight  shine  through 
you."     Fletcher  thought  it  best  to  overlook  the  insult. 


220  HISTOKT  OF  THE   AMEKICAN  PEOPLE. 

chap,    and  return    to    New  York,  without    accomplishing   hit 

threat. 

1693.  More   than   half  a  century  before,  the    Bev.    John 

Davenport  proposed  to  found  a  college  in  the  colony  of 
Connecticut,  but  as  Harvard  would  be  affected  by  the 
establishment  of  a  similar  institution,  the  project  was 
postponed.  Now,  the  ministers  of  the  colony  met  at 
Branford,  where  each  one  laid  upon  the  table  his  gift  of 
books,  accompanied  by  the  declaration,  "  I  give  these 
books  for  the  founding  a  college  in  this  colony. "  Forty 
volumes  were  thus  contributed.  How  little  did  these  good 
men,  as  they  made  their  humble  offerings,  anticipate  the 
importance  and  influence  of  the  college  of  which  they 

1701.    thus  laid  the  foundation. 

The  following  year  the  General  Court  granted  a  char- 
ter. The  professed  object  of  the  college  was  to  promote 
theological  studies  in  particular,  but  afterward  so  modified 
as  to  admit  of  "instructing  youth  in  the  arts  and  sci- 
ences, who  may  be  fitted  for  public  employments,  both  in 
church  and  civil  state."  For  sixteen  years,  its  sessions 
were  held  at  different  places ;  then  it  was  permanently 
located  at  New  Haven.  A  native  of  the  town,  Elihu 
Yale,  who  had  acquired  wealth  in  the  East  Indies,  became 
its  benefactor,  and  in  return  he  has  been  immortalised  in 
its  name. 

For  forty  years  succeeding  the  rule  of  Fletcher  the 
annals  of  New  York  are  comparatively  barren  of  incident ; 
during  that  time  the  province  enjoyed  the  doubtful  privi- 
lege of  having  ten  governors,  nearly  all  of  whom  took 
special  care  of  their  own  interests  and  those  of  their 
friends.  The  last  of  this  number  was  the  "  violent  and 
mercenary  ^.William  Cosby,  who  complained  to  the  Board 
of  Trade  that  he  could  not  manage  the  "  delegates "  to 
the  Assembly ; — "  the  example  of  Boston  people  "  had  so 
much  infected  them. 

The  city  of  New  York,  at  this  time,  contained  nearly 


THE   LIBERTY    OF    THE    FBEBS.  221 

nine  thousand  inhabitants.    The  Weekly  Journal,  a  paper  chap. 

recently  established    by  John    Peter    Zenger,  contained  

articles  condemning  the  arbitrary  acts  of  the  governor  1732. 
and  Assembly,  in  imposing  illegal  taxes.  This  was  the 
first  time  in  the  colonies  the  newspapers  had  dared  to 
criticize  political  measures.  This  new  enemy  of  arbitrary 
power  must  be  crushed.  Governor  Cosby,  with  the  appro- 
bation of  the  council,  ordered  the  paper  to  be  burned  by 
the  sheriff,  imprisoned  the  editor,  and  prosecuted  him  for 
libel.  Zenger  employed  as  counsel  two  lawyers,  and  they 
denied  the  authority  of  the  court,  because  of  the  illegal 
appointment  of  the  Chief  Justice,  Delancy,  by  Cosby, 
without  the  consent  of  the  Council.  For  presenting  this 
objection  their  names  were  promptly  struck  from  the  roll 
of  practitioners.  This  high-handed  measure  intimidated 
the  other  lawyers,  and  deterred  them  from' acting  as  coun- 
sel for  the  fearless  editor.  173& 

On  the  day  of  trial  a  venerable  man,  a  stranger  to 
nearly  all  present,  took  his  seat  at  the  bar.  The  trial 
commenced,  and  much  to  the  surprise  of  the  court,  the 
stranger  announced  himself  as  counsel  for  the  defendant. 
It  was  Andrew  Hamilton,  the  famous  Quaker  lawyer  of 
Philadelphia,  and  speaker  of  the  Assembly  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. Hamilton  proposed  to  prove  the  truth  of  the 
alleged  libel,  but  Delancy,  the  judge,  in  accordance  with 
English  precedents,  refused  to  admit  the  plea.  Then 
Hamilton  with  great  force  appealed  to  the  personal 
knowledge  of  the  jury ; — the  statements  in  the  paper 
were  notoriously  true.  He  showed  that  the  cause  was  not 
limited  to  this  editor  alone  ;  a  principle  was  involved, 
that  affected  the  liberty  of  speech  and  a  free  press  through- 
out the  colonies. 

In  spite  of  the  charge  of  the  judge  to  the  contrary, 
the  jury  brought  in  a  verdict  of  acquittal,  which  was 
received  with  rapturous  shouts  by  the  people.  Thus,  for 
the  first  time,  had  the  press  assumed  to  discuss,  and  even 


222 


HISTORY   OF  THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 


xvm*    condemn  political  measures,  and  its  liberty  to  do  so  was 

i amply  vindicated.     This  was  thirty-seven  years  before  the 

1733.    same  principle  was  established  in  England  by  the  decision 

in  the  trial  for  libel  brought  against  the  publisher  of  the 

famous  letters  of  Junius. 

1684.  "  We  have  now  to  relate  the  story  of  that  sad  delusion 
so  identified  with  the  early  history  of  the  quiet  and  re- 
spectable town  of  Salem,  in  Massachusetts.  The  belief 
in  witchcraft  appears  to  have  been  almost  universal  in 
the  age  of  which  we  write.  As  Christians  were  in  cove- 
nant with  God,  so,  it  was  believed,  witches  were  in  cove- 
nant with  the  devil ;  that  he  gave  them  power  to  torment 
those  whom  they  hated,  by  pinching  them,  pricking  them 
with  invisible  pins,  pulling  their  hair,  causing  their  cattle 
and  chickens  to  die,  upsetting'  their  carts,  and  by  many 
other  annoyances,  equally  undignified  and  disagreeable. 
As  Christians  had  a  sacrament  or  communion,  witches 
had  a  communion,  also,  at  which  the  devil  himself  offici- 
ated in  the  form  of  a  "  small  black  man."  He  had  a  book 
in  which  his  disciples  signed  their  names,  after  which  they 
renounced  their  Christian  baptism,  and  were  rebaptized, 
or  "  dipped  "  by  himself.  To  their  places  of  meeting  the 
witches  usually  rode  through  the  air  on  broomsticks. 

This  delusion,  absurd  as  it  seems  to  us,  was  in  that 
age  believed  by  learned  and  good  men,  such  as  Sir  Matthew 
Hale,  Lord  Chief  Justice  of  England  ;  Eichard  Baxter, 
author  of  the  "  Saints'  Eest ; "  and  Dr.  Isaac  Watts, 
whose  devotional  "  Psalms  and  Hymns "  are  so  familiar 
to  the  religious  world.  For  this  supposed  crime  many 
had,  at  different  times,  been  executed  in  Sweden,  Eng- 
land, France,  and  other  countries  of  Europe.  Before  the 
excitement  at  Salem,  a  few  cases  in  the  colony  of  Massa- 
chusetts had  been  punished  with  death. 

As  the  Bible  made  mention  of  witches  and  sorcerers, — 
to  disbelieve  in  their  existence  was  counted  infidelity. 
To  disprove  such  infidelity,  Increase  Mather,  a  celebrated 


Cc*cm  moJ&W- 


COTTON   MATHER.  223 

clergyman  of  New  England,  published  an  account  of  the   chap 

cases  that  had  occurred  there,  and  also  a  description  of   , 

the  manner  in  which  the  bewitched  persons  were  afflicted.  1684. 
After  this  publication,  the  first  case  that  excited  general 
interest  was  that  of  a  girl  named  Goodwin.  She  had  ac- 
cused the  daughter  of  an  Irish  washerwoman  of  stealing 
some  article  of  clothing.  The  enraged  mother  disproved 
the  charge,  and  in  addition  reproved  the  false  accuser  se- 
verely. Soon  after,  this  girl  became  strangely  affected  ;  168& 
her  younger  brother  and  sister  imitated  her  "  contortions 
and  twistings."  These  children  were  sometimes  dumb, 
then  deaf,  then  blind  ;  at  one  time  they  would  bark  like 
dogs,  at  another  mew  like  cats.  A  physician  was  called 
in,  who  gravely  decided  that  they  were  bewitched,  as  they 
had  many  of  the  symptoms  described  in  Mather's  book. 
The  ministers  became  deeply  interested  in  the  subject, 
and  five  of  them  held  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer  at  the 
house  of  the  Goodwins,  when  lo  I  the  youngest  child,  a 
boy  of  five  years  of  age,  was  delivered  1  As  the  children 
asserted  that  they  were  bewitched  by  the  Irish  washer- 
woman, she  was  arrested.  The  poor  creature  was  fright- 
ened out  of  her  senses,  if  she  had  any,  for  many  thought 
she  was  "  crazed  in  her  intellectuals."  She  was,  how- 
ever, tried,  convicted  and  hanged. 

There  was  at  this  time  at  Boston  a  young  clergyman, 
an  indefatigable  student,  remarkable  for  his  memory  and 
for  the  immense  amount  of  verbal  knowledge  he  possessed  ; 
he  was  withal  somewhat  vain  and  credulous,  and  exceed- 
ingly fond  of  the  marvellous  ;  no  theory  seems  to  have 
been,  more  deeply  rooted  in  his  mind  than  a  belief  in  witch- 
craft. Such  was  Cotton  Mather,  son  of  Increase  Mather. 
He  became  deeply  interested  in  the  case  of  the  Goodwin 
children,  and  began  to  study  the  subject  with  reoewed 
zeal ;  to  do  so  the  more  perfectly,  he  took  the  girl  to  his 
home.  She  was  cunning,  and  soon  discovered  the  weak 
points  of  his  character.     She  told  him  he  was  under  a 


224  HISTORY   OF  THE  AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

shap.    special  protection ;  that  devils,  though  they  tried  hard, 

, .  could  not  enter  his  study  ;  that  they  could  not  strike 

1688.  him  ;  the  hlows  were  warded  off  hy  an  invisible,  friendly 
hand.  When  he  prayed,  or  read  the  Bible,  she  would  be 
thrown  into  convulsions  ;  while  at  the  same  time,  she 
read  with  zest  Popish  or  Quaker  books,  or  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer.  Mather  uttered  prayers  in  a  variety 
of  languages  to  ascertain  if  these  wicked  spirits  were 
learned.  He  discovered  that  they  were  skilled  in  Latin, 
Greek,  and  Hebrew,  but  deficient  in  some  Indian  tongues. 
He  sincerely  believed  all  this,  and  wrote  a  book,  "  a  story 
all  made  up  of  wonders/'  to  prove  the  truth  of  witch- 
craft ;  and  gave  out  that,  hereafter,  if  any  one  should 
deny  its  existence,  he  should  consider  it  a  personal  insult. 
Mather's  book  was  republished  in  London,  with  an  ap- 
proving preface  written  by  Kichard  Baxter.  This  book 
had  its  influence  upon  the  minds  of  the  people,  and  pre- 
pared the  way  for  the  sad  scenes  which  followed. 

About  four  years  after  the  cases  just  mentioned,  two 
young  girls,  one  the  niece  and  the  other  the  daughter  of 
Samuel  Parris,  the  minister  at  Salem  village,  now  Dan- 
vers,  began  to  exhibit  the  usual  signs  of  being  bewitched. 
They  seem  to  have  done  this  at  first  merely  for  mischief, 
as  they  accused  no  one  until  compelled. 
16*2.  Between  Parris  and  some  of  the  members  of  his  con- 

gregation there  existed  much  ill-feeling.  Now  was  the 
time  to  be  revenged  !  And  this  "  beginner  and  procurer 
of  the  sore  affliction  to  Salem  village  and  country,"  in- 
sisted that  his  niece  should  tell  who  it  was  that  bewitched 
her,  for  in  spite  of  all  the  efforts  to  "  deliver  "  them,  the 
children  continued  to  practise  their  pranks.  The  niece  at 
length  accused  Kebecca  Nurse,  a  woman  of  exemplary  and 
Christian  life  ;  but  one  with  whom  Parris  was  at  variance. 
At  his  instigation  she  was  hurried  off  to  jail.  The  next 
Sabbath  he  announced  as  his  text  these  words  :  "  Have  I 
uot  chosen  you  twelve,  and  one  of  you  is  a  devil  ?  "  Imme- 


TBIAL   OF   WITCHES   AT    SALEM.  225 

diately  Sarah  Cloyce,  a  sister  of  the  accused,  arose  and  left  chap 

the  church, — in  those  days,  no  small  offence.    She  too  was  '. 

accused  and  sent  to  prison.     The  excitement  spread,  and    1692 
m  a  few  weeks  nearly  a  hundred  were  accused  and  re- 
manded for  trial 

After  the  people  had  driven  off  Andros,  Bradstreet 
had  still  continued  to  act  as  governor.  A  new  charter  lew. 
was  given,  under  which  the  governor  was  to  he  appointed 
by  the  crown.  Sir  William  Phipps,  a  native  of  New 
England,  "an  illiterate  man,  of  violent  temper,  with 
more  of  energy  than  ability,"  was  the  first  governor,  and 
William  Stoughton  the  deputy-governor.  These  both 
obtained  their  offices  through  the  influence  of  Increase 
Mather,  who  was  then  in  England,  acting  as  agent  for  the 
colony.  Stoughton  had  been  the  friend  of  Andros,  and  a 
member  of  his  council,  and,  like  Dudley,  was  looked  upon 
by  the  people  as  their  enemy.  Of  a  proud  and  unforgiv- 
ing temper,  devoid  of  humane  feelings,  he  was  self-willed 
and  selfish.  The  people  in  a  recent  election  had  slighted 
him  ;  they  scarcely  gave  him  a  vote  for  the  office  of 
judge  ;  this  deeply  wounded  his  pride.  In  his  opinions,  * 
as  to  spirits  and  witches,  he  was  an  implicit  follower  of 
Cotton  Mather,  of  whose  church  he  was  a  member. 

The  new  governor,  bringing  with  him  the  new  charter, 
arrived  at  Boston  on  the  fourteenth  of  May.  The  General  1692. 
Court  alone  had  authority  to  appoint  Special  Courts  ;  but  ^j** 
the  governor's  first  official  act  was  to  appoint  one  to  try 
the  witches  confined  in  prison  at  Salem.  The  triumph 
of  Mather  was  complete  ;  he  rejoiced  that  the  warfare 
with  the  spirits  of  darkness  was  now  to  be  carried  on  vig- 
orously, and  he  "  prayed  for  a  good  issue." 

The  illegal  court  met,  and  Parris  acted  as  prosecutor, 
producing  some  witnesses  and  keeping  back  others.  The 
prisoners  were  made  to  stand  with  their  arms  extended, 
lest  they  should  torment  their  victims.  The  glance  of  the 
witch's  eye  was  terrible  to  the  "  afflicted  ;  "  for  its  evil 


226  HISTORY   OF  THE   AMERICAN"   PEOPLE. 

chap,   influence  there  was  but  one  remedy  :  the  touch  of   the 

XVIII. 

accused  could  alone  remove  the  charm.    Abigail  Williams, 

1692.  the  niece  of  Parris,  was  told  to  touch  one  of  the  prisoners  ; 
she  made  the  attempt,  but  desisted,  screaming  out,  "  My 
fingers,  they  burn,  they  burn  ! "  She  was  an  adept  in 
testifying  ;  she  had  been  asked  to  sign  the  devil's  book  by 
the  spectre  of  one  of  the  accused  women,  and  she  had 
also  been  permitted  to  see  a  witch's  sacrament.  All  this 
was  accepted  by  the  court  as  true  and  proper  evidence. 
If  a  witness  contradicted  himself,  it  was  explained  by  as- 
suming that  the  evil  spirit  had  imposed  upon  his  brain. 
A  farmer  had  a  servant,  who  suddenly  became  bewitched  ; 
his  master  whipped  him,  and  thus  exorcised  the  devil, 
and  had  the  rashness  to  say  that  he  could  cure  any  of 
"  the  afflicted  "  by  the  same  process.  For  this  he  soon 
found  himself  and  wife  in  prison.  Kemarks  made  by  the 
prisoners  were  often  construed  to  their  disadvantage. 
George  Burroughs,  once  a  minister  at  Salem,  and  of  whom 
it  is  said  Parris  was  envious,  had  expressed  his  disbelief  in 
witchcraft,  and  pronounced  the  whole  affair  a  delusion. 
For  this  he  was  arrested  as  a  wizard.  On  his  trial  the 
witnesses  pretended  to  fye  dumb.  "Why,"  asked  the 
stern  Stoughton  of  the  prisoner,  "  are  these  witnesses 
dumb  ?  "  Burroughs  believed  they  were  perjuring  them- 
selves, and  promptly  answered,  "  The  devil  is  in  them,  I 
suppose."  "  Ah  !  ah  1 "  said  the  exulting  judge  ;  "  how 
is  it  that  he  is  so  loath  to  have  any  testimony  borne  against 
you  ?  "  This  decided  the  case  ;  Burroughs  was  condemned. 
From  the  scaffold  he  made  an  address  to  the  people,  and 
put  his  enemies  to  shame.  He  did  what  it  was  believed 
no  witch  could  do ;  he  repeated  the  Lord's  Prayer  dis- 
tinctly an&  perfectly.  The  crowd  was  strongly  impressed 
in  his  favor  ;  many  believed  him  innocent,  and  many 
were  moved  even  to  tears,  and  some  seemed  disposed  to 
rescue  him  ;  but  Cotton  Mather  appeared  on  horseback, 
and  harangued   the  crowd,  maintaining  that   Burroughs 


REVULSION   IN  PUBLIC   OPINION.  227 

was  not  a  true  minister,  that  he  had  not  been  ordained,  S34& 

that  the  fair  show  he  made  was  no  proof  of  his  innocence,  

for  Satan  himself  sometimes  appeared  as  an  angel  of  light/  1692. 

Many  of  the  accused  confessed  they  were  witches,  and 
by  that  means  purchased  their  lives  :  and  some,  to  make 
their  own  safety  doubly  sure,  accused  others  :  thus  the 
delusion  continued.  Then,  again,  others  who  had  con- 
fessed, repented  that  they  had  acknowledged  themselves  to 
be  what  they  were  not,  denied  their  confession,  and  died 
with  the  rest.  The  accusations  were  at  first  made  against 
those  in  the  humbler  walks  of  life  ;  now  others  were  ac- 
cused. Hale,  the  minister  at  Beverly,  was  a  believer  in 
witchcraft,  till  his  own  wife  was  accused  ;  then  he  was 
convinced  it  was  all  a  delusion. 

Some  months  elapsed  before  the  General  Court  held 
its  regular  session  ;  in  the  mean  time  twenty  persons  had 
fallen  victims,  and  fifty  more  were  in  prison  with  the  same 
fate  hanging  over  them.  Now  a  great  revulsion  took 
place  in  public  opinion.  This  was  brought  about  by  a 
citizen  of  Boston,  Robert  Calef,  who  wrote  a  pamphlet, 
first  circulated  in  manuscript.  He  exposed  the  manner 
in  which  the  trials  had  been  conducted,  as  well  as  proved 
the  absurdity  of  witchcraft  itself.  Cotton  Mather,  in  his 
reply,  sneered  at  Calef  as  "  a  weaver  who  pretended  to 
be  a  merchant."  Calef,  not  intimidated  by  this  abuse, 
continued  to  write  with  great  effect,  and  presently  the 
book  was  published  in  London.  Increase  Mather,  the 
President  of  Harvard  College,  to  avenge  his  son,  had  the 
"  weaver's  "  book  publicly  burned  in  the  college  yard. 

In  the  first  case  brought  before  the  court,  the  jury 
promptly  brought  in  a  verdict  of  not  guilty.  "When  news 
came  to  Salem  of  the  reprieve  of  those  under  sentence, 
the  fanatical  Stoughton,  in  a  rage,  left  the  bench,  ex- 
claiming, "  Who  it  is  that  obstructs  the  course  of  justice 
I  know  not ;  the  Lord  have  mercy  on  the  country."  T 

Not  long  after,  the  indignant  inhabitants  of   Salem    1698, 


22S  HISTOEY   OF   THE   AMEBICAK    PEOPLE. 

C^P-   drove  Parris  from  their  village.     Many  of  those  who  had 
participated  in  the  delusion,  and  given  their  influence  in 


1693.  favor  of  extreme  measures,  deeply  repented  and  publicly 
asked  forgiveness  of  their  fellow-citizens.  But  Cotton 
Mather  expressed  no  regret  for  the  part  he  had  taken,  01 
the  influence  he  exerted  in  increasing  the  delusion  ;  hie 
vanity  never  would  admit  that  he  could  possibly  have 
been  in  error.  Instead  of  being  humbled  on  account  of 
the  sorrows  he  had  brought  upon  innocent  persons,  he  la- 
bored to  convince  the  world  that,  after  all,  he  had  not 
been  so  very  active  in  promoting  the  delusion.  Stoughton 
passed  the  remainder  of  his  days  the  same  cold,  proud, 
and  heartless  man ;  nor  did  he  ever  manifest  the  least 
Borrow,  that  on  such  trifling  and  contradictory  evidence, 
he  had  sentenced  to  death  some  of  the  best  of  men  and 
women. 

It  is  a  pleasure  to  record  that,  thirty  years  after  this 
melancholy  delusion,  Cotton  Mather  with  fearless  energy 
advocated  the  use  of  inoculation  for  the  prevention  of 

1721.  small-pox.  He  had  learned  that  it  was  successful  in  Tur- 
key, in  arresting  or  modifying  that  terrible  disease,  and 
he  persuaded  Dr.  Boylston  to  make  the  experiment.  Ma- 
ther stood  firm,  amid  the  clamors  of  the  ignorant  mob,  who 
even  threw  a  lighted  grenade  filled  with  combustibles  into 
his  house,  and  paraded  the  streets  of  Boston,  with  halters 
in  their  hands,  threatening  to  hang  the  inoculators.  The 
majority  of  the  physicians  opposed  inoculation  on  theo- 
logical grounds,  contending,  "  it  was  presumptuous  for 
men  to  inflict  disease  on  man,  that  being  the  prerogative 
of  the  Most  High."  "  It  was  denounced  as  an  infusion  of 
malignity  into  the  blood  ;  a  species  of  poisoning  ;  an  at- 
tempt to  *thwart  God,  who  had  sent  the  small-pox  as  a 
punishment  for  sins,  and  whose  vengeance  would  thus  be 
only  provoked  the  more."  Nearly  all  the  ministers  were 
in  favor  of  the  system,  and  they  replied  with  arguments 
drawn  from  medical  science.     An  embittered  war  of  pam- 


INOCULATION   IN   BOSTON.  229 

phlets  ensued.   The  town  authorities  took  decided  ground  chap 

.  XVIII 

against  the  innovation,  while  the  General  Court  passed  . 

a  bill  prohibiting  the  practice,  but  the  Council  wisely    1721- 
refused  to  give  it  their  sanction.     At  length  science  and 
common  sense  prevailed,  and  the  inoculists  completely 
triumphed. 

Much  has  been  said  and  written,  more  or  less  justly, 
in  condemnation  of  these  strange  proceedings ;  however, 
from  this  time  forth  the  belief  in  witchcraft  began  to 
wane  in  New  England,  and  the  civil  authorities  noticed 
it  no  more.  In  justice  to  the  misguided  actors  in  this 
sad  tragedy  it  ought  to  be  remembered  that  for  half  a 
century  afterward,  the  law  of  the  mother  country,  as  it 
always  had  done,  still  made  witchcraft  a  capital  crime ; 
and  within  thirty  years  after  these  terrible  scenes  in 
Salem,  persons  accused  of  witchcraft  were  condemned 
and  put  to  death,  both  in  England  and  in  Scotland ;  in 
the  former  a  mother  and  her  daughter — nine  years  old —  1716. 
perished  together  on  the  same  scaffold ;  in  the  latter,  six 
years  afterward,  an  old  woman  was  burned  as  a  witch ; 
and  even  Blackstone,  when  writing  on  the  laws  of  England 
in  the  latter  half  of  the  eighteenth  century,  deems  witch- 
craft a  crime. 

No  one  of  these  persons  at  Salem  suffered  by  that 
barbarous  form  of  execution — burning;  nor  were  they 
put  to  the  rack  and  torture.  "What  a  tribute  it  is  to  the 
integrity  of  these  twenty  victims  that  they  refused  to 
stain  their  souls  with  the  crime  of  falsehood,  "  and  went 
to  the  gallows  rather  than  soil  their  consciences  by  the  lie 
of  confession."  ■  For  if  they  confessed  themselves  to  be 
witches,  "and  promised  blameless  lives  for  the  future, 
they  were  uniformly  pardoned." 

The  seven  magistrates  composing  this  illegal  court  held 
at  Salem  were  evidently  sincere  in  the  performance  of 

>  Palfrey's  History  of  New  England.    Vol.  IV.,  p.  133. 


230  HISTOEY   OF  THE   AMEEICAK   PEOPLE. 

chap,  their  official  duties,  yet  the  sternness  of  Stoughton,  the 

1  chief  judge,  seems  to  savor  of  fanaticism,  as  shown  in  his 

1716.  permitting  the  trials  to  be  hurried  through  without 
proper  deliberation ;  had  they  been  postponed  to  the 
regular  meeting  of  the  General  Court,  some  months  dis- 
tant, the  issue,  no  doubt,  would  have  been  far  different. 
The  magistrates  in  Plymouth  Colony  were  more  enlight- 
ened, for  when,  many  years  previous  to  this  time,  two 
1660.  prosecutions  for  witchcraft  having  been  brought  before 
them,  the  accused  were  declared  not  guilty. 

Notwithstanding  this  mistaken  zeal  in  punishing  im- 
aginary crime,  it  is  but  justice  to  notice  that  the  penal 
laws  enacted  by  the  Puritans  of  New  England  were  in 
their  humane  characteristics  far  in  advance  of  those  of 
the  same  period  in  Europe,  especially  in  England,  with 
which  the  comparison  may  be  more  properly  made.  Even 
down  to  1819  there  were  in  England  two  hundred  and 
twenty-three  offenses  punishable  with  death,  while  in  the 
From  very  first  formation  of  the  government  in  the  colonies  of 
£0  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  and  New  Haven,  the  crimes 
1646  punished  capitally  were  limited  to  seventeen,  and  some  of 
these  with  express  reservations,  "  leaving  the  exaction  of 
the  supreme  penalty  to  the  discretion  of  the  court."  "  Lar- 
ceny above  the  value  of  twelve  pence  was  a  capital  crime 
in  England ;"  also,  "  to  kill  a  deer  in  the  king's  forest,  or 
to  export  sheep  from  the  kingdom."  It  is  but  just  to 
compare  the  laws  enacted  in  these  colonies  with  the  con- 
temporary ones  in  the  Motherland,  and  not  with  those  of 
the  last  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century.  The  marvel  is 
that,  coming  from  a  country  where  such  barbarous  laws 
were  in  force,  the  colonists  had  the  moral  power  to 
rise  above,  the  prejudices  and  brutalities  of  the  age,  and 
frame  penal  laws  so  much  more  humane.  It  may  serve 
as  an  explanation  that  the  Puritans  of  New  England  fell 
back  upon  the  code  of  Moses  as  a  model,  deeming  that  to 
be  an  embodiment  of  the  law  of  God  for  His  people ; 


LAND   HOLDERS.  231 

sometimes  forgetting,  however,  that  these  laws  did  not  chap. 

fully  apply  in  the  seventeenth  century  of  the  Christian  ; 

era. 

In  the  recognition  of  human  rights  these  colonial  law- 
givers were  far  in  advance  of  the  contemporary  legislators 
of  Europe.  With  the  former  it  was  a  cardinal  principle 
to  give  every  citizen  a  chance  to  improve  his  temporal " 
affairs  by  industry  and  economy,  and  to  educate  his 
children.  Their  settlements,  in  accordance  with  the  law, 
were  originally  arranged  so  that  each  member  of  the 
community  had  an  interest  in  its  affairs  by  his  becoming 
a  landholder,  and  a  participant  in  the  councils  of  the  Town 
Meetings,  and  indirectly  in  those  of  the  colony  at  large, 
through  representatives  elected  by  the  aid  of  his  vote.  The 
farms  were  so  laid  out  that  their  length  greatly  exceeded 
their  breadth,  and  each  farmer  could  thus  have  his  house 
near  a  neighbor ;  usually  their  dwellings  were  built  on  a 
single  street,  the  farms  running  back,  while  the  church 
and  school-house  were  so  located  as  to  be  accessible  to  all. 
This  plan  of  laying  out  settlements,  though  at  first  en- 
joined by  the  civil  authorities,  was  afterward,  because  of 
its  utility,  adopted  in  numerous  instances  by  the  people 
themselves.  This  system  accounts  for  the  greater  num- 
ber of  villages  in  the  colonies  of  New  England  in  propor- 
tion to  their  extent  of  territory  than  are  in  the  Middle, 
and  still  more  in  the  Southern,  colonies. 

Another  division,  the  township  or  town  as  it  was 
usually  termed,  was  a  district  marked  off  of  convenient 
size,  to  enable  the  male  inhabitants  to  attend  the  town 
meetings,  which  were  held  at  a  point  known  as  the  "  Cen- 
tre," in  which  meetings  measures  pertaining  to  the  well- 
being  of  the  people  were  discussed  and  voted  upon — 
such  as  related  to  schools,  the  highways,  the  district  taxes, 
etc.  Under  these  conditions  all  the  residents  became  in- 
terested in  the  local  affairs  of  the  community.  The 
transition  was  natural  and  easy  for  citizens  thus  trained 


232  HISTORY   OF  THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

chap,  to  manifest  a  similar  interest  in  the  general  prosperity  of 

1  the  colony,  and  its  relations  with  the  Home  Government. 

In  consequence  of  this  political  schooling,  we  find  that 
on  the  great  questions  which  came  up  a  hundred  years 
later,  these  "  citizens  of  the  common  folk"  were  remark 
ably  well  informed,  and  the  sentiments  of  the  most  in- 
telligent patriots  of  that  period  found  in  their  minds  a 
ready  response.  For  the  times,  this  kind  of  information 
was  therefore  extensively  diffused  by  the  intercourse  be- 
tween citizens,  as  well  as  by  means  of  printing ;  for  in 
the  earlier  days  that  medium  was  often  used  by  leading 
minds  to  express  their  views  upon  current  topics  of 
interest.  The  printing-press  was  specially  utilized  in  the 
issue  of  short  publications  in  the  form  of  pamphlets  in 
discussing  questions  of  local  interest ;  among  these  theol- 
ogy held  a  prominent  place.  These  wars  of  pamphlets 
were  terrible  of  their  kind.  The  mass  of  the  people  were 
not  then  far  enough  advanced  in  literary  attainments  to 
sustain  newspapers,  as  they  were  known  even  a  century 
later,  but  on  religious  topics  and  on  political  subjects  they 
were  wide  awake.  These  short  publications,  so  often 
controversial,  served  their  purpose,  and  in  their  way  in- 
fluenced the  most  enlightened  minds,  and  they  in  turn 
those  with  whom  they  came  in  personal  contact. 

The  system  of  landholding x  and  town  meetings  culti- 
vated the  self-respect  of  every  citizen,  and  dignified  the 
most  humble  with  the  consciousness  that  he  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  community,  and  in  the  direction  of  its  affairs 
the  influence  he  might  have  he  was  at  liberty  to  exercise. 
This  was  the  outgrowth  of  the  democratic  principle 
which  found  its  expression  for  the  first  time  on  this  side 
of  the  world  in  the  cabin  of  the  May- Flower.2  The  sys- 
tem of  dividing  counties  into  towns  or  townships  pre- 
vailed, also,  in  the  other  colonies  that  afterward  became 

*  History,  p.  105.  2  History,  p.  99. 


EFFECT   OF   THE   KEVOLUTIOK   OF   1688.  233 

free  states,  and  in  them,  likewise,  the  minor  local  affairs  chap. 

.  XVIII 

were  managed  by  the  citizens  in  township  meetings ;  but  . 

not  to  the  same  extent  they  were  in  New  England,  be- 
cause the  people  were  not  so  homogeneous,  there  being 
a  large  proportion  that  were  not  of  Anglo-Saxon  descent, 
neither  were  they  so  harmonious  nor  so  far  advanced  in 
their  political  views.  In  these  colonies  and  states,  how- 
ever, the  people  elected  their  own  civil  officers,  while  in 
the  southern  they  were  nearly  all  appointed  by  the  Gov 
ernors,  Legislatures,  or  County  Courts.  This  latter  cus- 
tom, together  with  the  restrictions  on  suffrage,  greatly 
diminished  the  independence  of  the  individual ;  for,  in- 
stead of  the  power  being  lodged  with  the  people  them- 
selves, it  was  exercised  by  a  self-constituted  oligarchy. 

During  the  three-quarters  of  a  century  immediately 
succeeding  the  Great  Revolution  in  England  the  principles  From 
— religious  and  political — which  the  colonists  had  adopted  1(j^8 
as  their  rule  of  conduct,  exerted  a  free  and  benign  influ-  1763. 
ence;  consequently  their  progress,  under  the  circum- 
stances, was  very  great.  This  revolution  secured  so  much 
for  the  religious  liberties  of  the  English  people,  that  after- 
ward when  any  emigrated  to  the  colonies,  it  was  not  on 
account  of  religious  disabilities,  but  to  better  their  mate- 
rial interests.  Among  those  who  came  during  this  period 
were  companies  of  Protestants,  such  as  the  Presbyterians ' 
from  Scotland,  the  Scotch-Irish  from  the  north  of  Ireland, 
Huguenots  from  France,  and  Lutherans  from  Germany. 
These  immigrants  exerted  a  healthy  influence  on  the 
country,  in  promoting  its  material  prosperity  by  their  in- 
dustry and  economy,  and  in  coalescing  with  the  colonists 
in  their  educational  and  religious  matters.  They  blended 
easily  with  the  people,  and  became  thoroughly  assimi- 
lated in  less  than  two  generations. 

As  New  England  and  Virginia  were  populous  and 

i  History,  163,  172,  175,  179,  193. 


234  HISTOEY   OF  THE   AMERICAN"   PEOPLE. 

chap,   important  colonies,  they  became  centers  of  influences  that 

XVIII.  . 

, !    produced  certain  results  during  the  six  generations '  f  ol- 

From  lowing  the  witchcraft  excitement  in  the  one,  and  the 
an(i  attempt  under  Bacon2  to  vindicate  the  rights  of  the  peo- 
1684     pie  m  the  other. 

I860.  In  the  Virginia  colony  the  distribution  of  the  territory 

was  radically  different  from  that  in  New  England.  In 
the  former  were  large  undivided  counties,  instead  of  the 
districts  of  convenient  size  in  the  latter  in  order  to  main- 
tain schools  and  churches,  thus  making  compact  settle- 
ments of  land-owners  independent  and  self-respecting. 
Lands  in  Virginia  were  frequently  given  by  the  crown 
to  court  favorites 3  in  immense  grants,  and  on  these  were 
to  be  located  tenants ;  the  effect  upon  these  tenants  was 
not  to  cherish  independence  of  character,  but  the  reverse. 
In  consequence  of  this  system  of  royal  grants  farms  of 
moderate  size  became  the  exceptions ;  the  tendency  was 
for  the  rich  to  own  lands  in  very  large  estates,  thus  widely 
separating  the  homes  of  the  inhabitants.  The  poor  or 
small  farmers  gradually  withdrew  from  the  fertile  lands 
of  the  main  settlements  to  districts  more  sterile,  and  being 
deprived  of  the  appropriate  means  to  educate  their  chil- 
dren, they  made  little  improvement  from  generation  to 
generation.  None  but  landholders  were  permitted  to 
vote,  and,  as  far  as  known,  none  but  that  class  were 
elected  legislators,  thus  laying  the  foundation  for  a  landed 
aristocracy  modeled  after  that  of  England ;  to  this  class 
was  added  another  element  of  aggrandizement — the  sys- 
tem of  slavery.  From  this  time  forward  there  was  more 
importance  attached  to  wealth  in  landed  estates  and 
slaves  than  in  any  other  form.  As  "only  freeholders 
could  vo£e  for  members  of  the  house  of  burgesses,"  so  it 
came  to  pass,  in  process  of  time,  that  none  but  slave- 
owners were  elected  to  office. 

I  History,  pp.  858-860.    *  History,  pp.  139-144.    8  History,  pp.  141-143. 


1866. 


INFLUENCE   OF   SLAVEKY.  235 

•v    In  respect  to  education  the  spirit  of  Berkeley  seemed  chap. 

....  .  XVIII 

to  brood  over  successive  Virginia  legislatures ;  during  one  , . 

hundred  and  ninety  years  after  his  time  neither  as  a  From 
colony  nor  as  a  state  did  they  establish  schools  where  to 
all  the  children  could  be  educated,  while  it  required 
more  than  half  a  century  to  prepare  the  aristocracy  for 
the  innovation  of  a  printing-press.  The  "  poor  whites" 
in  Virginia  never  recovered  from  the  blow  they  received 
at  the  failure  of  their  uprising  under  Bacon ;  twenty  of 
their  most  progressive  and  patriotic  men  perished  on  the 
scaffold  by  order  of  the  inhuman  Berkeley,  and  from  that 
time  forward  they  made  little  progress.1  This  influence 
extended  gradually  south  from  Virginia  to  the  Carolinas 
and  Georgia,  where  the  same  system  prevailed  of  large 
tracts  of  the  best  lands  being  cultivated  by  slaves,  and 
with  the  usual  result  of  driving  the  "  poor  whites"  back 
to  the  unfertile  districts.  In  these  colonies,  and  after- 
ward when  states,  no  schools  were  established  to  educate 
all  the  children. 

Meanwhile  the  influence  of  slavery  grew  stronger  and 
stronger ;  manual  labor  for  a  white  man  became  a  badge 
of  degradation,  which  attached  itself  to  him  and  to  his 
children.  There  is  no  sadder  story  in  our  history  than  is 
revealed  in  the  inner  life  of  the  "poor  whites"  of  the 
South  during  these  two  centuries.  They  made  but  little 
progress.  They  cultivated  sterile  fields  merely  to  eke  out 
a  scanty  subsistence  ;  as  to  manufactures,  they  were  only 
by  hand,  and  of  the  crudest  kind,  to  supply  their  domes- 
tie  wants ;  in  the  main,  the  great  mass  making  little  ad- 
vance in  education  or  in  mental  improvement.  This  may 
account  for  the  fact  that  so  limited  a  number  of  that  class 
rose  above  their  condition  in  times  of  great  trial,  as  in  the 
days  of  the  Revolution,  when,  comparatively,  very  few  of 
them  displayed  talents  of  a  high  order.    The  most  promi- 

»  Lodge's  History  of  the  Colonies  ;  Virginia,  p.  21,  and  onward. 


236  HISTORY   OF  THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

chap,  nent  of  these  was  Daniel  Morgan.1     When  their  youth 

;  came  to  manhood  they  were  cramped  by  lack  of  education. 

From  Another  effectual  cause  of  hindering  the  political  prog- 

t0  ress  of  the  mechanic  or  farmer  of  limited  means,  was  the 
186L  manner  in  which  civil  affairs  were  conducted.  In  the 
large  counties  of  these  colonies  and  states,  the  Court-House 
was  located  near  the  center,  and  to  meet  at  "  The  Court" 
became  the  practice  of  the  aristocracy,  there  to  see  their 
compeers  from  all  parts  of  the  county :  this  custom  passed 
over  from  colonial  times  to  be  more  fully  carried  out  in 
the  States.  In  these  meetings  they  discussed  measures  in 
relation  to  the  interests  of  the  county  as  well  as  general 
politics.  The  nominal  citizen  not  owning  land  had  no  vote, 
and  therefore  he  took  little  or  no  interest  in  these  county 
gatherings,  and  the  distinction  became  still  more  clear,  so 
that  he  who  owned  a  small  farm  and  no  slaves,  felt  ill  at 
ease  in  an  assembly  where  mere  wealth  in  land  and  slaves 
exerted  so  much  influence.  It  was  the  landed  aristocracy 
who  held  office  under  colonial  governors,  and  who  were 
their  accepted  advisers ;  at  the  South,  from  this  class  alone 
came  the  enlightened  patriots  of  the  Ke volution ;  none 
scarcely  from  the  ranks  of  manual  labor  or  small  farmers. 
The  intercourse  between  the  rich  land-  and  slave-owners 
and  their  poorer  neighbors  was  characterized  by  an  obse- 
quiousness on  the  part  of  the  latter  totally  unknown  in 
the  northern  colonies ;  in  them  the  value  of  knowledge 
and  moral  excellence  was  more  clearly  estimated,  while 
that  of  mere  wealth  was  reckoned  only  secondary  in  the 
social  position  of  the  individual. 

Of  the  middle  colonies  during  this  period  the  most 
advanced  in  literary  culture  was  Pennsylvania.  Though 
she  had  no  "public  schools  in  a  wide  sense,  yet  under  the 
influence  of  the  Friends  her  private  ones,  were  the  best  of 
their  kind.     Then  came  a  large  immigration  of  Germans2 

1  History,  p.  380;  also,  Serjeant  Jasper,  p.  406.        2  History,  pp.  170-174. 


NEWSPAPERS.  237 

who  became  famous  as  farmers,  but  unfortunately  not  so  chap. 

XVIII 

famous  for  the  interest  they  took  in  education.     The  con-  . 

trast  between  them  in  this  respect  and  the  Friends  and  171°- 
Presbyterians1  was  very  striking.  In  New  Jersey  the 
schools  were  private,  none  were  public ;  but  the  Presby- 
terian element '  moulded  the  minds  of  the  youth,  by  in- 
stilling the  truths  of  the  Bible  as  they  deemed  them  sum- 
marized in  their  catechism ;  through  their  influence 
Princeton  college  was  founded.  The  same  in  respect  to 
private  schools  may  be  said  of  the  Dutch  of  New  York, 
In  this  colony,  however,  occurred  the  first  instance  in  the 
English-speaking  world  of  a  trial  in  court  in  which  the 
freedom 2  of  the  press  was  fully  established,  and  has  re- 
mained so  from  that  day  to  this. 

When  newspapers  were  first  printed  in  the  seventeenth 
century  the  arbitrary  colonial  governments  suppressed 
them  without  hesitation  if  they  contained  anything 
these  gentlemen  did  not  relish.  The  first  newspaper  pub- 
lished in  the  colonies — "  The  Public  Occurrences'' — was 
at  Boston  ;  it  was  simply  a  printed  narrative  of  events,  in-  1690. 
stead  of  the  usual  one  in  manuscript,  giving  the  current 
news.  The  only  copy  of  this  paper  known  to  exist  is  in 
the  Colonial  State  Paper  Office  in  London.3  It  was  con- 
fiscated no  doubt.  Fourteen  years  afterward  the  first 
weekly  newspaper  in  the  colonies  was  established  also 
in  Boston — "The  News-Letter" — by  Benjamin  Harris.  1704. 
"  The  News-Letter"  lived  seventy  years. 

"The  American  Weekly  Mercury"  was  founded  in    1719. 
Philadelphia,  and  ten  years  later  in  the  same  city  Benja- 
min Franklin  published  the  first  number  of  the  "  Penn-    1729. 
sylvania  Gazette ;"  two  years  later  "  The  South  Carolina 
Gazette"  began  its  existence  in  Charleston,  and  five  years 
afterward  "  The  Virginia  Gazette"  made  its  apnearance    1736. 
at  Williamsburg. 

1  History,  pp.  336,  318.  2  History,  p.  231. 

3  Hudson's  Journalism,  p.  44. 


238  HISTORY   OF  THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

chap.         The  influence  was  reciprocal ;  as  these  papers  gradu- 

, 1  ally  advanced  in  excellence,  the  people,  meanwhile,  were 

becoming  more  and  more  intelligent  and  better  qualified 
to  appreciate  their  merits.  They  flourished  more  vigor- 
ously in  the  New  England  and  in  the  three  northern 
middle  colonies  than  elsewhere.  In  the  former  especially 
the  prevalence  of  common  schools  had  made  the  great 
mass  of  the  people  readers ;  in  addition  the  harsh  climate 
of  that  section,  when  compared  with  the  more  genial  one 
of  the  southern,  led  the  people  to  cultivate  indoor  indus- 
tries, and  during  the  long  and  severe  winters,  to  acquire 
knowledge  and  mental  improvement  by  reading.  Mean- 
time a  marvelous  change  had  been  going  on  during 
the  French  war,  which  assumed  a  decided  character  at 
1756  its  close.  Now  began  the  discussion,  both  by  addresses 
..  *°  of  prominent  men  and  in  the  newspapers,  of  the  political 
questions  involved  in  the  policy  of  the  Home  Government, 
in  its  endeavor  to  interfere  with  the  civil  rights  and  in- 
dustries of  the  colonies.  The  whole  people  were  intensely 
roused  to  this  phase  of  thought,  and  to  the  maintenance 
of  their  rights.  In  this  clash  of  opinions  the  press  became 
a  still  greater  power,  both  in  force  and  in  numbers.  It 
became  the  exponent,  to  a  certain  extent,  of  the  senti- 
ments of  the  royalists  as  well  as  of  the  patriots,  while  the 
people  themselves  were  stirred  to  their  inmost  souls.1 

The  questions  relating  to  civil  and  religious  liberty 
absorbed  the  thoughts  of  the  colonists  so  much  that  we 
learn  only  incidentally  concerning  their  material  -prog- 
ress, as  the  chroniclers  of  the  times  give  us  only  occa- 
sionally a  glimpse  of  the  domestic  life  of  the  people. 
We  know  that  the  New  Englanders,  more  than  the 
people,  of  tnje  middle  or  southern  colonies,  were  com- 
pelled by  the  barrenness  of  their  soil  and  the  bleakness 
of  their  climate  to  labor  almost  incessantly  in  obtaining 

1  See  History,  chap.  XXIV.,  pp.  317-324,  for  characteristics  of  the 
colonists. 


CROPS — AKIMALS.  239 

a  supply  of  the  necessaries  of  life.     They  carefully  cul-  chap. 

tivated  wheat,  but  the  sterile  soil  refused  abundant  crops  ;   _ 

and  they  also  devoted  care  to  raising  rye  and  Indian 
corn.  It  was  different  in  the  middle  and  the  southern 
colonies  :  in  them  the  soil  was  much  more  fertile,  and  the 
climate  more  genial ;  the  crops  of  wheat  and  Indian  corn 
in  the  former  were  abundant,  while  in  the  latter  tobacco 
was  the  most  valuable  product,  because  of  its  ready  sale. 
This  led  to  its  extensive  culture,  almost  to  the  exclusion 
of  the  cereals — the  latter  were  supplied  by  the  middle 
colonies  :  even  in  that  early  day  the  different  sections  of 
the  land  were  dependent  upon  one  another.  The  rapid 
sale  and  high  price  of  tobacco  led  to  the  introduction 
of  foreign  luxuries,  and  made  the  planters  dependent 
on  England,  especially  for  their  needed  manufactured 
articles.  On  the  contrary,  the  handicraft  of  the  New 
Englanders  and  the  people  of  the  middle  colonies  was 
constantly  improving,  because  they  had  no  valuable  pro- 
duct like  tobacco  to  send  to  Europe  in  exchange  for  mer- 
chandise— not  even  to  any  extent  for  textile  fabrics ; 
hence  they  were  compelled  to  manufacture  these  articles 
for  themselves. 

In  the  one  section  the  working  animal  most  prized 
was  the  ox,  so  patient  and  useful  in  cultivating  the  rocky 
farms  in  little  valleys  and  on  hillsides,  and  the  cows  fur- 
nishing so  much  food  for  the  family,  and  the  sheep  for 
the  production  of  wool.  In  the  middle  colonies  the  ox 
was  used,  but  not  so  much  as  the  draft-horse,  in  cultivat- 
ing the  large  wheat  fields ;  while  in  Yirginia  the  hoe  was 
as  necessary,  if  not  more,  than  the  plow  in  cultivating 
tobacco.  The  Yirginian  cherished  the  horse  as  the 
noblest  of  animals,  and  imported  from  England  the 
finest  for  the  saddle,  for  hunting,  and  for  racing,  mean- 
while neglecting  his  domestic  cattle. 


CHAPTEK    XIX. 

MISSIONS   AND   SETTLEMENTS    IN   NEW   FRANCE. 

The  Emigrants  few  in  number. — The  Jesuits ;  their  zeal  as  Teachers  and 
Explorers. — Missions  among  the  Hurons. — Ahasistari. — The  Five  Na- 
tions, or  Iroquois. — Father  Jogues. — The  Abenakis ;  Dreuilettes. — The 
Dangers  of  the  Missions. — French  Settlers  at  Oswego. — James  Mar- 
quette.— The  Mississippi. — La  Salle ;  his  Enterprise ;  his  Failure  and 
tragical  End. 

chap    We  have  already  given  an    account  of  the  discoveries 

*LK'    made  in  New  France,  and  the  settlements  founded  under 

1684.    *ne  direction  of  Samuel  Champlain.     We  now  intend  to 

trace  the  history  of  these  settlements  and  missions,  from 

that  period  till  the  time  when  the  Lilies  of  France  were 

supplanted  by  the  Banner  of  St.  George. 

The  climate  offered  but  few  inducements  to  cultiva- 
tors of  the  soil,  and  emigrants  came  but  slowly ;  they 
established  trading  houses,  rather  than  agricultural  settle- 
ments. To  accumulate  wealth  their  main  resource  was 
in  the  peltries  of  the  wilderness,  and  these  could  be  ob- 
tained only  from  the  Indians,  who  roamed  over  the  vast 
regions  west  and  north  of  the  lakes. 

A  partial  knowledge  of  the  country  had  been  obtained 
from  a  priest/  Father  Le  Caron,  the  friend  and  companion 
of  Champlain.  He  had,  by  groping  through  the  woods, 
and  paddling  over  the  waters  his  birch-bark  canoe,  pene- 
trated far  up  the  St.  Lawrence,  explored  the  south  shore 
of  Lake  Ontario,  and  even  found  his  way  to  Lake  Huron. 


THE   JESUITS.  241 

Three  years  before  the  death  of  Champlain,  Louis  chap 

XIII.  gave  a  charter  to  a  company,  granting  them  the  

control  of  the  valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  all  its  trib-  1684. 
utaries.  An  interest  was  felt  for  the  poor  savages,  and  it 
was  resolved  to  convert  them  to  the  religion  of  Kome  ; — 
not  only  convert  them,  but  make  them  the  allies  of 
France.  Worldly  policy  had  as  much  influence  as  reli- 
gious zeaL  It  was  plain,  the  only  way  to  found  a  French 
empire  in  the  New  World,  was  by  making  the  native 
tribes  subjects,  and  not  by  transplanting  Frenchmen. 

The  missions  to  the  Indians  were  transferred  to  the 
supervision  of  the  Jesuits.  This  order  of  priests  was 
founded  expressly  to  counteract  the  influence  of  the 
Reformation  under  Luther.  As  the  Keformers  favored  156* 
education  and  the  diffusion  of  general  intelligence,  so  the 
Jesuit  became  the  advocate  of  education — provided  it  was 
under  his  own  control.  He  resolved  to  rule  the  world  by 
influencing  its  rulers  ;  he  would  govern  by  intellectual 
power  and  the  force  of  opinion,  rather  than  by  supersti- 
tious fears.  He  endeavored  to  turn  the  principles  of  the 
Reformation  against  itself.  His  vows  enjoined  upon  him 
perfect  obedience  to  the  will  of  his  superior, — to  go  on 
any  mission  to  which  he  might  be  ordered.  No  clime  so 
deadly  that  he  would  not  brave  its  danger  ;  no  people  so 
savage  that  he  would  not  attempt  their  conversion. 

With  their  usual  energy  and  zeal,  the  Jesuits  began 
to  explore  the  wilds  of  New  France,  and  to  bring  its 
wilder  inhabitants  under  the  influence  of  the  Catholic 
faith.  To  the  convert  was  offered  the  privileges  of  a 
subject  of  France.  From  this  sprang  a  social  equality, 
friendly  relations  were  established,  and  intermarriages  took 
place  between  the  traders  and  the  Indian  women. 

Companies  of  Hurons,  who  dwelt  on  the  shores  of  the 
lake  which  bears  their  name,  were  on  a  trading  expedition 
to  Quebec.  On  their  return  home  the  Jesuits  Brebeuf 
and  Daniel  accompanied  them.     They  went  up  the  Ot- 


242  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

CxfxP'  *awa  ^  ^ey  came  to  *ts  largest  western  branch,  thence 

to  its  head  waters,  and  thence  across  the  wilderness  to 

1634.  their  villages  on  Georgian  bay  and  Lake  Simcoe.  The  faith 
and  zeal  of  these  two  men  sustained  them  during  their 
toilsome  journey  of  nine  hundred  miles,  and  though  their 
feet  were  lacerated  and  their  garments  torn,  they  rejoiced 
in  their  sufferings.  Here  in  a  grove  they  built,  with  theii 
own  hands,  a  little  chapel,  in  which  they  celebrated  the 
ceremonies  of  their  church.  The  Eed  Man  came  to  hear 
the  morning  and  evening  prayers  ;  though  in  a  language 
which  he  could  not  understand,  they  seemed  to  him  to  be 
addressed  to  the  Great  Spirit,  whom  he  himself  wor- 
shipped. Six  missions  were  soon  established  in  the  villages 
around  these  lakes  and  bays.  Father  Brebeuf  spent  four 
hours  of  every  morning  in  private  prayer  and  self-flagel- 
lations, the  rest  of  the  day  in  catechizing  and  teaching. 
Sometimes  he  would  go  out  into  the  village,  and  as  he 
passed  along  would  ring  his  little  bell  and  thus  invite  the 
grave  warriors  to  a  conference,  on  the  mysteries  of  his 
religion.     Thus  he  labored  for  fifteen  years. 

These  teachings  had  an  influence  on  the  susceptible 
heart  of  the  great  Huron  chief  Ahasistari.  He  professed 
himself  a  convert  and  was  baptized.  Often  as  he  escaped 
uninjured  from  the  perils  of  battle,  he  thought  some  pow- 
erful spirit  watched  over  him,  and  now  he  believed  that 
the  God  whom  the  white  man  worshipped  was  that  guar- 
dian spirit.  In  the  first  flush  of  his  zeal  he  exclaimed  : 
"  Let  us  strive  to  make  all  men  Christians." 

Thousands  of  the  sons  and  daughters  of  the  forest 
listened  to  instruction,  and  the  story  of  their  willingness 
to  hear,  when  told  in  France,  excited  a  new  interest.  The 
king  and  queen  and  nobles  vied  with  each  other  in  mani- 
festing their  regard  by  giving  encouragement  and  aid  tc 
the  missionaries,  and  by  presents  to  the  converts.  A  col- 
lege, to  educate  men  for  these  missions,  was  founded  at 
Quebec,  two  years  before  the  founding  of  Harvard.     Two 


THE  FIVE   NATIONS.  243 

years  afterward  the  Ursuline   convent   was  founded  at   chap 

Montreal  for  the   education  of  Indian  girls,  and   three  

young  nuns  came  from  France  to  devote  themselves  to    1635 
that  labor.     They  were  received  with  demonstrations  of 
joy  by  the  Hurons  and  Algonquins.     Montreal  was  now 
chosen  as  a  more  desirable  centre  for  missionary  operations. 

The  tribes  most  intelligent  and  powerful,  most  war- 
like and  cruel,  with  whom  the  colonists  came  in  contact, 
were  the  Mohawks,  or  Iroquois,  as  the  French  named 
them.  They  were  a  confederacy  consisting  of  five  nations, 
the  Senecas,  the  Oneidas,  the  Onondagas,  the  Cayugas, 
and  the  Mohawks — better  known  to  the  English  by  the 
latter  name.  This  confederacy  had  been  formed  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  counsels  of  a  great  and  wise  chief,  15881 
Hiawatha.  Their  traditions  tell  of  him  as  having  been 
specially  guided  by  the  Great  Spirit,  and  that  amid  strains 
of  unearthly  music,  he  ascended  to  heaven  in  a  snow- 
white  canoe.  They  inhabited  that  beautiful  and  fertile 
region  in  Central  New  York,  where  we  find  the  lakes  and 
rivers  still  bearing  their  names. 

Their  territory  lay  on  the  south  shore  of  Lake  Ontario, 
and  extended  to  the  head-waters  of  the  streams  which 
flow  into  the  Chesapeake  and  Delaware  bays,  and  also  to 
the  sources  of  the  Ohio.  These  streams  they  used  as 
highways  in  their  war  incursions.  They  pushed  their  con- 
quests up  the  lakes  and  down  the  St.  Lawrence,  and 
northward  almost  to  the  frozen  regions  around  Hudson's 
bay.  They  professed  to  hold  many  of  the  tribes  of  New 
England  as  tributary,  and  extended  their  influence  to  the 
extreme  east.  They  made  incursions  down  the  Ohio 
against  the  Shawnees,  whom  they  drove  to  the  Carolinas. 
They  exercised  dominion  over  the  Illinois  and  the  Miamis. 
They  were  the  inveterate  enemies  of  the  Hurons,  and  a 
terror  to  the  French  settlements — especially  were  they 
hostile  to  the  missions.  In  vain  the  Jesuits  strove  to 
teach   them  ;    French  influence   could  never  penetrate 


244  HISTOKY   OF   THE   AMERICAN  PEOPLE. 

chap,    south  of   Ontario.     The   Mohawks   closely  watched  the 

passes  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  the  intercourse  between 

1685.    the  missionaries  stationed  on  the  distant  lakes  and  their 
head-quarters  at  Montreal  was  interrupted,  unless  they 
travelled  the  toilsome  route  by  the  Ottawa  and  the  wil- 
derness beyond. 
1642.  An  expedition  from  the  lakes  had  slipped  through  to 

Quebec,  and  now  it  endeavored  to  return.  As  the  fleet 
approached  the  narrows,  suddenly  the  Mohawks  attacked 
it  ;  most  of  the  Frenchmen  and  Hurons  made  for  the  op- 
posite shore.  Some  were  taken  prisoners,  among  whom 
was  Father  Jogues.  The  noble  Ahasistari,  from  his 
hiding-place,  saw  his  teacher  was  a  prisoner ;  he  knew 
that  he  would  be  tortured  to  death,  and  he  hastened  to 
him  :  "  My  brother,"  said  he,  "  I  made  oath  to  thee,  that 
I  would  share  thy  fortune,  whether  death  or  life ;  here  1 
am  to  keep  my  vow."  He  received  absolution  at  the 
hands  of  Jogues,  and  met  death  at  the  stake  in  a  manner 
becoming  a  great  warrior  and  a  faithful  convert. 

Father  Jogues  was  taken  from  place  to  place  ;  in  each 
village  he  was  tortured  and  compelled  to  run  the  gauntlet. 
His  fellow-priest,  Goupil,  was  seen  to  make  the  sign  of 
the  cross  on  the  forehead  of  an  infant,  as  he  secretly  bap- 
tized it.  The  Indians  thought  it  a  charm  to  Mil  their 
children,  and  instantly  a  tomahawk  was  buried  in  the 
poor  priest's  head.  The  Dutch  made  great  efforts,  but 
in  vain,  to  ransom  Jogues,  but  after  some  months  of  cap- 
tivity he  made  his  escape  to  Fort  Orange,  where  he  wa, 
gladly  received  and  treated  with  great  kindness  by  the 
Dominie  Megapolensis.  Jogues  went  to  France,  but  in  a 
few  years  he  was  again  among  his  tormentors  as  a  messen- 
ger of  the  gospel ;  ere  long  a  blow  from  a  savage  ended 
his  life.  A  similar  fate  was  experienced  by  others.  Father 
Bressani  was  driven  from  hamlet  to  hamlet,  sometimes 
scourged  by  all  the  inhabitants,  and  tortured  in  every  pos- 


INDIAN   MISSIONS.  245 

able  form  which  savage  ingenuity  could  invent, — yet  he   chap 
survived,  and  was  at  last  ransomed  by  the  Dutch.  

The  Abenakis  of  Maine  sent  messengers  to  Montreal  1642. 
asking  missionaries.  They  were  granted,  and  Father 
Dreuilettes  made  his  way  across  the  wilderness  to  the 
Penobscot,  and  a  few  miles  above  its  mouth  established  a 
mission.  The  Indians  came  to  him  in  great  numbers. 
He  became  as  one  of  themselves,  he  hunted,  he  fished,  he 
taught  among  them,  and  won  their  confidence.  He  gave 
a  favorable  report  of  the  place,  and  the  disposition  of  the 
tribes,  and  a  permanent  Jesuit  mission  was  there  estab- 
lished. On  one  occasion  Father  Dreuilettes  visited  the 
Apostle  Eliot  at  Koxbury.  The  noble  and  benevolent 
work  in  which  they  were  engaged,  served  in  the  minds  of 
these  good  men  to  soften  the  asperities  existing  between 
the  Catholic  and  the  Puritan,  and  they  bid  each  other 
God  speed. 

At  this  time  there  were  sixty  or  seventy  devoted  mis-  1646 
sionaries  among  the  tribes  extending  from  Lake  Superior 
to  Nova  Scotia.  But  they  did  not  elevate  the  character 
of  the  Indian  ;  he  never  learned  to  till  the  soil,  nor  to 
dwell  in  a  fixed  abode  ;  he  was  still  a  rover  in  the  wide, 
free  forest,  living  by  the  chase.  The  Abenakis,  like  the 
Hurons,  were  willing  to  receive  religious  instructions  ;  they 
learned  to  chant  matins  and  vespers,  they  loved  those 
who  taught  them.  It  is  not  for  us  to  say  how  many  of 
them  received  into  their  hearts  a  new  faith. 

The  continued  incursions  of  the  ferocious  Mohawks 
kept  these  missions  in  peril.  Suddenly  one  morning  they 
attacked  the  mission  of  St.  Joseph  on  Lake  Simcoe, 
founded,  as  we  have  seen,  by  Brebeuf  and  Daniel.  The 
time  chosen  was  when  the  warriors  were  on  a  hunting  ex- 
cursion, and  the  helpless  old  men,  women,  and  children 
fell  victims  to  savage  treachery.  The  aged  priest  Daniel, 
at  the  first  war-cry,  hastened  to  give  absolution  to  all  the  1048 
converts  he  could  reach,  and  then  calmly  advanced  from 


246  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

°xlx/    ^e  cnaPe*  *n  *ke  ^ace  °^  tne  murderers.     He  fell  pierced 

with  many  arrows.     These  marauding  expeditions  broke 

164a  up  nearly  all  the  missions  in  Upper  Canada.  The  Hu- 
rons  were  scattered,  and  their  country  became  a  hunting- 
ground  for  their  inveterate  enemies. 
,  Many  of  the  Huron  converts  were  taken  prisoners  and 
adopted  into  the  tribes  of  the  Five  Nations.  Some  years 
1661.  after,  when  a  treaty  was  made  between  those  nations  and 
the  French,  the  presence  of  these  converts  excited  hopea 
that  they  would  receive  Jesuit  teachers.  A  mission  was 
established  among  the  Onondagas,  and  Oswego,  their  prin- 
cipal village,  was  chosen  for  the  station.  In  a  year  or 
two  missionaries  were  laboring  among  the  other  tribes  of 
the  confederacy.  But  the  French,  who  had  an  eye  to  se- 
curing that  fertile  region,  sent  fifty  colonists,  who  began 
a  settlement  at  the  mouth  of  the  Oswego.  The  jealousy 
of  the  Indians  was  excited  ;  they  compelled  the  colonists 
to  leave  their  country,  and  with  them  drove  away  the 
missionaries.  Thus  ended  the  attempts  of  the  French  to 
possess  the  soil  of  New  York. 

The  zeal  of  the  Jesuits  was  not  diminished  by  these 
untoward  misfortunes ;  they  still  continued  to  prosecute 
their  labors  among  the  tribes  who  would  receive  them. 
Away  beyond  Lake  Superior  one  of  their  number  lost  his 
way  in  the  woods  and  perished,  and  the  wild  Sioux  kept 
his  cassock  as  an  amulet.  Into  that  same  region  the  un- 
daunted Father  Allouez  penetrated  ;  there,  at  the  largest 
town  of  the  Chippewas,  he  found  a  council  of  the  chiefs 
of  many  different  tribes.  They  were  debating  whether 
they  should  take  up  arms  against  the  powerful  and  war- 
like Sioux.  He  exhorted  them  to  peace,  and  urged  them 
1666  t°  join  in  alliance  with  the  French  against  the  Iroquois  ; 
he  also  promised  them  trade,  and  the  protection  of  the 
great  king  of  the  French.  Then  he  heard  for  the  first 
time  of  the  land  of  the  Illinois,  where  there  were  no  trees, 
but  vast  plains  covered  with  long  grass,  on  which  grazed 


JAMES   MARQUETTE.  247 

innumerable  herds  of  buffalo  and  deer.     He  heard  of  the  *&&' 

wild   rice,  and  of  the  fertile   lands  which  produced  an  , 

abundance  of  maize,  and  of  regions  where  copper  was  ob-  1669. 
tained, — the  mines  so  famous  in  our  own  day.  He  learned, 
too,  of  the  great  river  yet  farther  west,  which  flowed 
toward  the  south,  whither,  his  informants  could  not  tell 
After  a  sojourn  of  two  years  Allouez  returned  to  Quebec, 
to  implore  aid  in  establishing  missions  in  that  hopeful 
field.  He  stayed  only  to  make  known  his  request ;  in  two 
days,  he  was  on  his  way  back  to  his  field  of  labor,  accom- 
panied by  only  one  companion. 

The  next  year  came  from  France  another  company  of 
priests,  among  whom  was  James  Marquette,  who  repaired 
immediately  to  the  missions  on  the  distant  lakes.  Ac- 
companied by  a  priest  named  Joliet,  and  five  French 
boatmen,  with  some  Indians  as  guides  and  interpreters, 
Marquette  set  out  to  find  the  great  river,  of  which  he  had 
heard  so  much.  The  company  passed  up  the  Fox  river 
in  two  birch-bark  canoes ;  they  carried  them  across  the 
portage  to  the  banks  of  the  Wisconsin,  down  which  they 
floated,  till  at  length  their  eyes  were  gratified  by  the  sight 
of  the  "  Father  of  Waters."  1670 

They  coast  along  its  shores,  lined  with  primeval  for- 
ests, swarming  with  all  kinds  of  game  ;  the  prairies  redo- 
lent with  wild  flowers  ; — all  around  them  is  a  waste  of 
grandeur  and  of  beauty.  After  floating  one  hundred  and 
eighty  miles  they  meet  with  signs  of  human  beings.  They 
land,  and  find,  a  few  miles  distant,  an  Indian  village  ;  here 
they  are  welcomed  by  a  people  who  speak  the  language 
of  their  guides.  They  are  told  that  the  great  river  ex- 
tends to  the  far  south,  where  the  heat  is  deadly,  and  that 
the  great  monsters  of  the  river  destroy  both  men  and 
canoes. 

Nothing  daunted  they  pass  on,  and  ere  long  they  reach 
the  place  where  the  turbid  and  rapid  Missouri  plunges 
into  the  tranquil  and  clear  Mississippi.  "  When  I  return/' 


248  vHISTOEY   OF   THE   AMEBIC  AN   PEOPLE. 

CxnF*    sa^B  ^ar(luette>  u  I  wiH  ascend  that  river  and  pass  beyond 

its  head- waters  and  proclaim  the  gospel."     Further  on 

1670.  they  see  a  stream  flowing  from  the  north-east ; — it  is  the 
Ohio,  of  which  the  Iroquois  have  told  them.  We  can 
imagine  Marquette,  noticing  the  fertility  of  the  soil, 
looking  with  awe  upon  the  dark  and  impenetrable  forests, 
and  hoping  that  in  future  ages  these  shores  would  be  the 
homes  of  many  millions  of  civilized  and  Christian  men. 

As  they  went  on  they  approached  a  warmer  climate  ; 
and  now  they  were  sure  that  the  great  river  flowed  intc 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  not  into  that  of  California,  as 
had  been  supposed.  They  met  with  Indians  who  showed 
them  tools  of  European  manufacture ;  obtained  either 
from  the  English  of  Virginia  or  from  the  Spaniards  fur- 
ther south.  It  was  deemed  prudent  to  return,  as  they 
might  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  latter,  and  thus  be  de- 
prived of  the  privilege  of  making  known  their  discovery. 
At  the  mouth  of  the  Arkansas  they  began  the  toilsome 
labor  of  paddling  their  canoes  up  the  stream  down  which 
they  had  so  easily  floated.  They  reached  the  mouth  of  the 
Illinois  ;  thinking  it  would  lead  them  to  the  lakes,  they 
passed  up  that  river  to  its  head-waters,  and  thence  across 
to  Lake  Michigan. 

Joliet  immediately  set  out  to  carry  the  news  of  the 
discovery  to  Quebec.  Marquette  was  desirous  to  begin 
his  work,  and  he  chose  to  remain  in  the  humble  station  of 
a  missionary  in  the  wilderness.  One  day  he  retired  to  his 
private  devotions,  at  a  simple  altar  he  had  erected  in  a 
grove.  An  hour  afterward  he  was  found  kneeling  beside 
it ;  his  prayers  and  his  labors  for  the  good  of  the  poor  In- 
dian were  ended  ; — in  that  hour  of  quiet  retirement  his 
spirit  had  passed  away. 

Among  the  adventurers  who  came  to  Canada  to  seek 
their  fortunes,  was  Eobert  Cavalier  de  la  Salle,  a  young 
man  who  had  been  educated  as  a  Jesuit,  but  had  re- 
nounced the  order.     A  large  domain  at  the  outlet  of  Lake 


ENTERPRISE   OP   LA   SALLE — LOUISIANA.  249 

Ontario  was  granted  him  on  condition  that  he  would  main-   chap 
tain  Fort  Frontenac,  now  Kingston.    But  his  main  object  , 

was  to  obtain  the  entire  trade  of  the  Iroquois.     The  Dews    1675. 
of  the  discovery  of  the  great  river  inflamed  his  ardent  mind 
with  a  desire  to  make  settlements  on  its  banks,  and  thus 
secure  its  vast  valley  for  his  king.     Leaving  his  lands  and 
his  herds,  he  sailed  for  France,  and  there  obtained  a  favora-    1677 
ble  grant  of  privileges.     He  returned,  passed  up  to  Lake 
Erie,  at  the  foot  of  which  he  built  a  vessel  of  sixty  tons,  in 
which,  with  a  company  of  sailors,  hunters,  and  priests,  he 
passed  through  the  straits  to  the  upper  lakes,  and  an- 
chored in  Green  Bay.     There,  lading  his  ship  with  a  cargo    1679 
of  precious  furs,  he  sent  her  to  Niagara,  with  orders  to    Aug. 
return  as  soon  as  possible  with  supplies.     Meanwhile  he 
passed  over  into  the  valley  of  the  Illinois,  and  on  a  bluff 
by  the  river  side,  near  where  Peoria  now  stands,  built  a 
fort,  and  waited  for  his  ship  ;  but  he  waited  in  vain ;  she 
was  wrecked  on  the  voyage. 

After  three  years  of  toils,  wanderings  in  the  wilder- 
ness, and  voyages  to  France,  during  which  he  experienced 
disappointments  that  would  have  broken  the  spirit  of  an 
ordinary  man,  we  find  him  once  more  on  the  banks  of  the 
Illinois.  Now  he  built  a  barge,  on  board  of  which,  with  1682. 
his  companions,  he  floated  down  to  the  Mississippi,  and  AP™ 
thence  to  the  Gulf.  Thus  were  his  hopes,  after  so  much 
toil  and  sacrifice,  realized.  He  had  triumphantly  traced 
the  mighty  stream  to  its  mouth.  He  remained  only  to 
take  possession  of  the  country  in  the  name  of  his  sovereign, 
Louis  XIV.,  in  honor  of  whom  he  named  it  Louisiana. 

La  Salle  returned  to  Quebec,  and  immediately  sailed 
for  France.  He  desired  to  carry  into  effect  his  great  de- 
sign of  planting  a  colony  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi. 
The  enterprise  was  looked  upon  with  favor  by  both  the 
French  people  and  the  king.  He  was  furnished  with  an 
armed  frigate  and  three  other  vessels,  and  two  hundred  1684, 
and  eighty  persons  to  form  a  colony.     One  hundred  of 


250  HISTOEY   OF   THE   AMERICAN"   PEOPLE. 

chap,  these  were  soldiers  ;  of  the  remainder,  some  were  volun- 

L  teers,  some  mechanics,  and  some  priests.     Unfortunately, 

1684.  the  command  of  the  ships  was  given  to  Beaujeu,  a  man 
as  ignorant  as  he  was  self-willed  and  conceited.  After 
surmounting  many  difficulties,  they  entered  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico,  but  missed  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi.  La 
1686.  Salle  soon  discovered  the  error,  but  the  stubborn  Beaujeu, 
deaf  to  reason,  sailed  on  directly  west,  till  fortunately  ar- 
rested by  the  eastern  shore  of  Texas.  La  Salle  deter- 
mined to  disembark  and  seek  by  land  the  mouth  of  the 
great  river.  The  careless  pilot  ran  the  store-ship  on  the 
breakers  ;  suddenly  a  storm  arose,  and  very  little  was  saved 
of  the  abundance  which  Louis  had  provided  for  the  enter- 
prise. It  is  said  that  he  gave  more  to  aid  this  one  colony 
than  the  English  sovereigns  combined  gave  to  all  theirs  in 
North  America. 

As  the  ships  were  about  to  leave  them  on  that  desolate 
shore,  many  became  discouraged,  and  returned  home. 
The  waters  in  the  vicinity  abounded  in  fish,  and  the  for- 
ests in  game,  and  with  a  mild  climate  and  productive  soil, 
there  was  no  danger  from  starvation.  A  fort  was  built  in 
a  suitable  place  ;  the  trees  of  a  grove  three  miles  distant 
furnished  the  material,  which  they  dragged  across  the 
prairie.  La  Salle  explored  the  surrounding  country,  but 
sought  in  vain  for  the  Mississippi.  On  his  return  to  the 
fort,  he  was  grieved  to  find  his  colony  reduced  to  forty  per- 
sons, and  they  disheartened  and  mutinous.  He  did  not 
despair ;  he  would  yet  accomplish  the  darling  object  of  his 
ambition  ;  he  would  thread  his  way  through  the  wilder- 
ness to  Canada,  and  induce  colonists  to  join  him.  With 
*687  a  company  of  sixteen  men  he  commenced  the  journey ; 
they  travelled  two  months  across  the  prairies  west  of  the 
Mississippi ;  but  the  hopes  that  had  cheered  his  heart 
amidst  hardships  and  disappointments  were  never  to  be 
realized.  Two  of  his  men,  watching  their  opportunity, 
murdered   him.     Thus  perished   Kobert   Ovalier  de  la 


DEATH    OF   LA   SALLE.  251 

Salle,  assassinated  in  the  wilderness  by  his  own  country-  CSA?- 

men.     He  was  the  first  to  fully  appreciate  the  importance  

of  securing  to  France  the  two  great  valleys  of  this  conti-  1687. 
nent.  His  name  will  ever  be  associated  with  his  unsuc- 
cessful enterprise,  and  his  tragical  fate  will  ever  excite  a 
feeling  of  sympathy.  Ketribution  was  not  long  delayed  ; 
his  murderers,  grasping  at  spoils,  became  involved  in  a 
quarrel  with  their  companions,  and  both  perished  by  the 
hand  of  violence. 

The  remainder  of  the  company  came  upon  a  tributary 
of  the  Mississippi,  down  which  they  passed  to  its  mouth, 
where  their  eyes  were  greeted  by  a  cross,  and  the  arms  of 
France  engraved  upon  a  tree.  This  had  been  done  by 
Tonti,  a  friend  of  La  Salle,  who  had  descended  from  the 
Illinois,  but  in  despair  of  seeing  him  had  returned.  The 
colony  of  Texas  perished  without  leaving  a  memento  of  its 
existence. 


CHAPTER    XX. 

MARAUDING  EXPEDITIONS;  SETTLEMENT  OF  LOUISIANA j  CAPTURE 
OP  LOUISBURG. 

Mohawks  hostile  to  the  French. — Dover  attacked ;  Major  Waldron. — Sche- 
nectady captured  and  burned. — The  inhuman  Frontenac. — The  Colonists 
act  for  themselves. — Invasion  of  Canada. — Settlements  in  Maine  aban- 
doned.— Heroism  of  Hannah  Dustin. — Deerfield  taken;  Eunice  Wil- 
liams.— D'Ibberville  plants  a  Colony  on  the  Pascagoula. — Trading  Posts 
on  the  Illinois  and  the  Mississippi. — The  Choctaws ;  the  Natchez ;  at- 
tempts to  subdue  the  Chickasaws. — King  George's  War. — Capture  of 
Louisburg. — The  English  Ministry  alarmed. — Jonathan  Edwards. — The 
"  Great  Revival." — Princeton  College. 

chap.    Peace  had  continued  for  some  time  between  the  Five  Na- 
xx. 
tions  and  the  French,  but  now  the  former  were  suspicious 

1685.  of  the  expeditions  of  La  Salle.  James  II.  had  instructed 
Dongan,  the  Catholic  governor  of  New  York,  to  conciliate 
the  French,  to  influence  the  Mohawks  to  receive  Jesuit 
missionaries,  and  to  quietly  introduce  the  Catholic  religion 
into  the  colony.  But  Dongan  felt  more  interest  in  the 
fur  trade,  which  the  French  seemed  to  be  monopolizing, 
than  in  Jesuit  missions  among  the  Mohawks,  and  he 
rather  encouraged  the  latter  in  their  hostility.  An  act  of 
treachery  increased  this  feeling.  Some  of  their  chiefs, 
who  were  enti<*$d  to  enter  Fort  Frontenac,  were  seized  and 
forcibly  carried  to  France,  and  there  made  slaves. 

When  the  indignant  people  of  England  drove   the 
bigoted  James  from  his  throne  and  invited  William  of 

1688.  Orange  to  fill  it,  Louis  XIV.  took  up  the  quarrel  in  behalf 
of  James,  or  of  legitimacy,  as  he  termed  it.     He  believed 


DOVEB  BUBNED MAJOB  WALDBON.  253 

in  the  divine  right  of  kings  to  rule,  and  denied  the  right   c^p- 

of  a  people  to  change  their  form  of  government,     Louis  

had  for  years  greatly  abused  his  power,  and  all  Europe  had    1G88. 
suffered  from  his  rapacity.     Religious  feeling  exerted  its 
influence  in  giving  character  to  the  war,  and  Protestant 
Holland  joined  heart  and  hand  with  Protestant  England 
in  opposing  Catholic  France. 

Though  the  colonies  were  thus  involved  in  war  by  the 
mother  countries,  they  had  different  ends  in  view.  The 
New  Englanders  had  an  eye  to  the  fisheries  and  the  pro- 
tection of  their  northern  frontiers  ;  the  French  wished  to 
extend  their  influence  over  the  valleys  of  the  St.  Lawrence 
and  the  Mississippi,  and  to  monopolize  the  fisheries  as  well 
as  the  fur-trade.  The  latter  object  could  be  obtained  only 
by  the  aid  of  the  Indians,  and  they  were  untiring  in  their 
efforts  to  make  them  friends.  They  could  never  conciliate 
the  Mohawks,  nor  induce  them  to  join  in  an  invasion  of 
New  York.  On  the  contrary,  fifteen  hundred  of  them 
suddenly  appeared  before  Montreal,  and  in  a  few  days  cap- 
tured that  place,  and  committed  horrible  outrages  upon 
the  people. 

Thus  stood  matters  when  Frontenac,  for  the  second  168&. 
time,  appeared  as  governor  of  New  France.  To  make  the 
savages  respect  him  as  a  warrior,  he  set  on  foot  a  series  of 
incursions  against  the  English  colonies.  The  eastern  In- 
dians were  incited  to  attack  Dover  in  New  Hampshire  ; — 
incited  by  the  French,  and  also  by  a  cherished  desire  for 
revenge.  There,  at  the  head  of  the  garrison,  was  that 
Major  Waldron  who,  thirteen  years  before,  during  King 
Philip's  war,  had  treacherously  seized  two  hundred  of 
their  friends,  who  came  to  him  to  treat  of  peace.  He  had 
proposed  to  these  unsuspecting  Indians  a  mock  fight  by 
way  of  entertainment ;  when  their  guns  were  all  discharged 
he  made  them  prisoners  and  sent  them  to  Boston.  Some 
of  them  were  hanged,  and  others  sold  into  slavery.  The 
Indians  in  their  turn  employed  stratagem  and  treachery. 


254  HISTOKY   OF  THE    AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

CxxT'  ^W0  S(luaws  came  t°  Dover;  they  asked  of  the  aged 
__  Waldron,  now  fourscore,  a  night's  lodging.  In  the  night 
1G8».  they  arose,  unbarred  the  gates,  and  let  in  their  friends, 
who  lay  in  ambush.  Their  hour  for  vengeance  had  come  ; 
fchey  made  the  pangs  of  death  as  bitter  as  possible  to  the 
brave  old  Waldron ;  his  white  hairs  claimed  from  them  no 
pity.  In  derision,  they  placed  him  in  a  chair  on  a  table, 
and  scored  his  body  with  gashes  equal  in  number  to  their 
friends  he  had  betrayed  ;  they  jeeringly  asked  him,  "  "Who 
will  judge  Indians  now  ?  Who  will  hang  our  brothers  ? 
Will  the  pale-faced  Waldron  give  us  life  for  life  ? " l 
They  burned  all  the  houses,  murdered  nearly  half  the  in- 
habitants, and  carried  the  remainder  into  captivity. 

This  was  only  the  beginning  of  a  series  of  horrors 
inflicted  upon  the  frontier  towns.  The  inhabitants  of 
Schenectady,  as  they  slept  in  fancied  security,  were  star- 
tled at  midnight  by  the  terrible  war-whoop  of  the  savage, 
— the  harbinger  of  untold  horrors.  The  enemy  found  easy 
1690.  access,  as  the  gates  of  the  palisades  were  open.  The 
Feb.  bouses  were  set  on  fire,  more  than  sixty  persons  were 
killed,  and  many  helpless  women  and  children  were  carried 
into  captivity.  A  few  escaped  and  tied  half  clad  through 
the  snow  to  Albany.  This  attack  was  made  by  a  party 
of  French  and  Indians  from  Montreal,  who  had  toiled  for 
twenty-two  days  through  the  snows  of  winter,  breaking 
the  track  with  snow-shoes,  and  using,  when  they  could, 
the  frozen  streams  as  a  pathway.  At  Salmon  Falls,  on 
the  Piscataqua,  and  at  Casco,  similar  scenes  were  enacted. 
Such  were  the  means  the  inhuman  Frontenac,  now 
almost  fourscore,  took  to  inspire  terror  in  the  minds  of  the 
English  colonists,  and  to  acquire  the  name  of  a  great  war- 
rior among  the  Indians, — they  would  follow  none  but  a 
successful  leader.  Among  the  early  Jesuit  missionaries 
who  taught  the  Indians  of  New  France,  there  were  un- 

2New  England  History,  C.  W.  Elliott. 


EXPEDITIONS   AGAINST   CANADA.  255 

doubtedly  many  good  men.    The  priests  of  that  generation   chap 

had   passed   away,  and  others  had  taken  their  places  ;  L, 

these  incited  the  recently  converted  savage,  not  to  prac-    1690. 
tise  Christian  charity  and  love,  hut  to  pillage  and  murder 
the  heretical  English  colonist. 

King  William  was  busy  in  maintaining  his  own  cause 
in  England,  and  left  the  colonists  to  defend  themselves. 
Massachusetts  proposed  that  they  should  combine,  and  re- 
move the  cause  of  their  trouble  by  conquering  Canada. 
Commissioners  from  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  and  New 
York  met  to  deliberate  on  what  course  to  pursue.  They 
resolved  to  invade  that  province  from  New  York,  by  way 
•>f  Lake  Champlain,  and  from  Massachusetts  by  way  of  the 
St.  Lawrence.  The  expedition  from  New  York  failed. 
Colonel  Peter  Schuyler  led  the  advance  with  a  company 
of  Mohawks,  but  the  ever- watchful  Front enac  was  pre- 
pared ;  his  Indian  allies  flocked  in  crowds  to  aid  him  in 
defending  Montreal.  The  Mohawks  were  repulsed  and 
could  not  recover  their  position,  as  the  army  sent  to  sup- 
port them  was  compelled  to  stop  short ;  the  small-pox 
broke  out  among  the  soldiers,  and  they  were  in  want  of 
provisions. 

Meantime,  the  fleet  of  thirty-two  vessels,  and  two 
thousand  men,  which  had  sailed  from  Boston,  was  endeav- 
oring to  find  its  way  up  the  St.  Lawrence.  It  was  under 
the  command  of  Sir  William  Phipps,  to  whose  incompe- 
tency may  be  attributed  the  failure  of  the  enterprise.  An 
Indian  runner  cut  across  the  woods  from  Piscataqua,  and 
in  twelve  days  brought  the  news  of  the  intended  attack 
to  the  French.  Frontenac  hastened  to  Quebec,  where  he 
arrived  three  days  before  the  fleet.  When  it  came  in 
sight  he  was  prepared  to  make  a  vigorous  defence.  A 
party  landed,  but  after  some  skirmishing  the  enterprise 
was  abandoned.  While  returning,  the  men  suffered  much 
from  sickness,  and  storms  disabled  the  fleet.  The  disap- 
pointment of  the  people  of  Massachusetts  was  very  great ; 


256 


HISTORY   OF   THE    AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 


chap,   many  lives  had  been  lost,  and  the  colony  was  laden  witfc 

debt. 

1690  The  Eastern  Indians,  in  the  mean  time,  were  held  in 

check  by  Captain  Church,  celebrated  in  King  Philip's 
war.  At  one  time,  he  so  far  forgot  himself  as  to  put  to 
death  his  prisoners,  some  of  whom  were  women  and  chil- 
dren. Such  cruelty  was  inexcusable  ;  and  it  was  avenged 
by  the  savages  with  tenfold  fury.  Nearly  all  the  settle- 
ments of  what  is  now  Maine  were  destroyed  or  abandoned. 
The  enemy  were  continually  prowling  around  the  farms, 
watching  an  opportunity  to  shoot  the  men  at  their  work. 
All  went  armed,  and  even  the  women  learned  to  handle 
effectively  the  musket  and  the  rifle.  It  was  a  great  in- 
ducement for  the  Indians  to  go  on  these  marauding  expe- 
ditions, because  they  could  sell  for  slaves  to  the  French 
of  Canada  the  women  and  children  they  took  prisoners. 

Peace  was  at  length  made  with  the  Abenakis,  or  East- 
ern Indians,  and  there  was  a  lull  in  the  storm  of  desola- 
tion. It  lasted  but  a  year,  the  Indians  broke  the  treaty. 
They  were  incited  to  this  by  their  teachers,  two  Jesuits, 
Thury  and  Bigot,  who  even  took  pride  in  their  atrocious 
work. 

IW4  Heroic  deeds  were  performed  by  men  and  women.     A 

small  band  of  Indians  attacked  the  house  of  a  farmer 
named  Dustin,  near  Haverhill.  When  in  the  fields  he 
heard  the  war-whoop  and  the  cry  of  distress.  He  hastened 
to  the  rescue,  met  his  children,  and  threw  himself  be- 
tween them  and  their  pursuers,  whom  he  held  at  bay  by 
well-directed  shots  till  the  children  were  in  a  place  of 
safety.  His  house  was  burned  ;  a  child  only  a  few  days 
old  was  dashed  against  a  tree,  and  his  wife,  Hannah  Dus- 
tin, and  her  nurse,  were  carried  away  captive.  A  toilsome 
march  brought  them  to  an  island  in  the  Merrimac,  just 
above  Concord,  where  their  captors  lived.  There  Mrs. 
Dustin,  with  the  nurse  and  a  boy,  also  a  captive,  planned 
an  escape.     She  wished  revenge,  as  well  as  to  be  secure 


DKERFIELD    DESTROYED EUNICE    WILLIAMS.  257 

from  pursuit.  The  Indians,  twelve  in  number,  were  asleep.  c§^p 

She  arose,  assigned  to  each  of  her  companions  whom  to  

strike  ;  their  hands  were  steady  and  their  hearts  firm  ;  1694. 
they  struck  for  their  lives.  Ten  Indians  were  killed,  one 
woman  was  wounded,  and  a  child  was  purposely  saved. 
The  heroic  woman  wished  to  preserve  a  trophy  of  the  deed, 
and  she  scalped  the  dead.  Then  in  a  canoe  the  three 
floated  down  the  Merrimac  to  Haverhill,  much  to  the 
astonishment  of  their  friends,  who  had  given  them  up  for 
lost.  Such  were  the  toils  and  sufferings,  and  such  the 
heroism  of  the  mothers  in  those  days. 

The  friendly  Mohawks  had  intimated  to  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Deerfield,  in  the  valley  of  the  Connecticut,  that 
the  enemy  was  plotting  their  destruction.  The  anxiety 
of  the  people  was  very  great,  and  they  resolved  during  the 
winter  to  keep  a  strict  watch  ;  sentinels  were  placed  every 
night. 

On  an  intensely  cold  night  in  February  a  company  of  1704 
two  hundred  Frenchmen,  and  one  hundred  and  forty  In- 
dians, lay  in  ambush,  waiting  a  favorable  moment  to 
spring  upon  their  victims.  Under  the  command  of  Hertel 
de  Kouville,  they  had  come  all  the  way  from  Canada,  on 
the  crust  of  a  deep  snow,  with  the  aid  of  snow-shoes.  The 
sentinels,  unconscious  of  danger,  retired  at  dawn  of  day. 
The  snow  had  drifted  as  high  as  the  palisades,  thus,  ena- 
bling the  party  to  pass  within  the  inclosure,  which  con- 
sisted of  twenty  acres.  The  terrible  war-cry  startled  the 
inhabitants,  the  houses  were  set  on  fire,  and  forty-seven 
persons  were  ruthlessly  murdered  ;  one  hundred  and 
twelve  were  taken  captive,  among  whom  were  the  minister 
Williams,  his  wife,  and  five  children.  No  pen  can  de- 
scribe the  sufferings  of  the  captives  on  that  dreary  winter's 
march,  driven,  as  they  were,  by  relentless  Frenchmen  and 
savages.  Eunice  Williams,  the  wife,  drew  consolation 
from  her  Bible,  which  she  was  permitted  to  read  when 
the  party  stopped  for  the  night.    Her  strength  soon  failed  ; 


258  HISTORY   OF   THE    AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

CxxP'  ^€r  ^llls^an^  cheered  her  by  pointing  her  to  the  "  house 

not  made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens."     "  The 

1704.  mother's  heart  rose  to  her  lips,  as  she  commended  her  five 
captive  children,  under  God,  to  theii  father's  care,  and 
then  one  blow  of  the  tomahawk  ended  her  sorrows."  This 
family,  with  the  exception  of  one  daughter,  seven  years  of 
age,  were  afterward  ransomed,  and  returned  home. 
•  Many  years  after  this,  there  appeared  at  Deerfield  a 
white  woman  wearing  the  Indian  garb  ;  she  was  the  lost 
daughter  of  Eunice  Williams,  and  now  a  Catholic,  and 
the  wife  of  an  Indian  chief.  No  entreaties  could  influence 
her  to  remain  with  her  civilized  relatives  ;  she  chose  to  re- 
turn and  end  her  days  with  her  own  children. 

Humanity  shudders  at  the  recital  of  the  horrors  that 
marked  those  days  of  savage  warfare.  Some  of  the  Indians 
even  refused  to  engage  any  more  in  thus  murdering  the 
English  colonists  ;  but  the  infamous  Hertel,  with  the  ap- 
probation of  Vaudreuil,  then  governor  of  Canada,  induced 
a  party  to  accompany  him  on  a  foray.  Why  repeat  the 
story  of  the  fiendish  work,  by  which  the  little  village  of 
Haverhill,  containing  about  thirty  log-cabins,  was  burned, 
and  all  the  inhabitants  either  murdered  or  taken  captive. 
1708.  u  -j^y  keart  gweus  ^th  indignation,"  wrote  Colonel  Peter 
Schuyler,  of  New  York,  to  Vaudreuil,  "  when  I  think  that 
a  wax  between  Christian  princes,  is  degenerating  into  a 
savage  and  a  boundless  butchery  ;  I  hold  it  my  duty  to- 
ward God  and  my  neighbor,  to  prevent,  if  possible,  these 
barbarous  and  heathen  cruelties."  This  reproof  was  un- 
heeded ;  the  cruelties  continued. 

Under  the  feelings  excited  by  such  outrages,  can  we 
think  it  strange  that  the  colonists  resolved  to  hunt  the 
Indians  like  wild  beasts,  and  offered  a  bounty  for  their 
scalps  ?  or  that  the  hostility  against  the  French  Jesuit 
should  have  thrown  suspicion  upon  the  Catholic  of  Mary- 
land, who  about  this  time  was  disfranchised  ?  or  that  3veu 


LEMOINB    D'lBBERVILLB. 

in  liberal  Rhode  Island,  he  should  have  been  deprived   chap 
of  the  privilege  of  becoming  a  freeman  ?  

With  renewed  energy  the  French  began  to  press  for-  1708. 
ward  their  great  design  of  uniting,  by  means  of  trading 
posts  and  missions,  the  region  of  the  Lakes  and  the  valley 
of  the  Mississippi.  The  Spaniards  had  possession  of  the 
territory  on  the  northern  shore  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico, 
while  they  claimed  the  entire  regions  lying  around  that 
expanse  of  water. 

The  energetic  mind  of  Lemoine  d'Ibberville  conceived 
a  plan  for  planting  a  colony  at  the  mouth  of  the  Missis- 
sippi. He  was  a  native  of  Canada,  and  had,  on  many 
occasions,  distinguished  himself  by  his  talents  and  great 
courage.  Hopes  were  entertained  of  his  success.  The 
expedition,  consisting  of  four  vessels  and  nearly  two  hun- 
dred colonists,  among  whom  were  some  women  and  chil- 
dren, sailed  from  Canada  for  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi.  1699 
D'Ibberville  entered  the  Gulf  and  approached  the  north 
shore,  landed  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  Pascagoula,  and 
with  two  barges  and  forty-eight  men  went  to  seek  the 
great  river.  He  found  it  by  following  up  a  current  of 
muddy  waters,  in  which  were  many  floating  trees.  He 
passed  up  the  stream  to  the  mouth  of  Red  River,  where 
he  was  surprised  to  receive  a  letter  dated  fourteen  years 
before.  It  was  from  Tonti ;  he  had  left  it  with  the  In- 
dians for  La  Salle  ;  they  had  preserved  it  carefully,  and 
gave  it  to  the  first  Frenchman  who  visited  them. 

As  the  shores  of  the  Mississippi  in  that  region  are 
marshy,  it  was  thought  best  to  form  a  settlement  on  the 
Gulf  at  the  mouth  of  the  Pascagoula.  This  was  the  first 
colony  planted  within  the  limits  of  the  present  State  of 
Mississippi.  D'Ibberville  sailed  for  France  to  obtain  sup- 
plies and  more  colonists,  leaving  one  of  his  brothers,  Sau- 
ville,  to  act  as  governor,  and  the  other,  Bienville,  to 
engage  in  exploring  the  country  and  river. 

Some  fifty  miles  up  the  Mississippi  Bienville  met  an 


260 


HISTOKY   OF  THE   AMEKICAK   PEOPLE. 


Cix>'  ^*B^^1  sn*P  sent  on  tne  same  errand.     Seventy  years 

before,  Charles  I.  had  given  to  Sir  Kobert  Heath  a  grant 

1630.  of  Carolina,  which  as  usual  was  to  extend  to  the  Pacific. 
This  worthless  grant  Coxe,  a  London  physician,  had  pur- 
chased, and  to  him  belonged  this  vessel. 

»  From  the  time  of  La  Salle  the  Jesuits  had  been  busy 
ingratiating  themselves  with  the  tribes  along  the  shores  of 
the  Mississippi,  and  under  their  direction  trading  posts 
were  established,  at  various  points,  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Illinois,  and  up  that  river  to  the  Lakes. 
1700.  The  following  year  D'Ibberville  returned  with  two 

ships  and  sixty  colonists,  and  the  aged  Tonti  had  just  ar- 
rived from  the  Illinois.  Availing  himself  of  his  counsel, 
D'Ibberville  ascended  the  river  four  hundred  miles,  and  on 
a  bluff  built  a  fort,  which,  in  honor  of  the  Duchess  of 
Pontchartrain,  was  called  Rosalie.  These  settlements  lan- 
guished for  twenty  years  ;  the  colonists  were  mere  hire- 
lings, unfitted  for  their  work.  The  whole  number  of 
emigrants  for  ten  years  did  not  exceed  two  hundred  per- 
sons. Instead  of  cultivating  the  soil,  and  making  their 
homes  comfortable,  many  went  to  the  far  west  seeking  for 
gold,  and  others  to  the  north-west  on  the  same  errand, 
while  fevers  and  other  diseases  were  doing  the  work  of 
death.  Meantime  Mobile  became  the  centre  of  French 
influence  in  the  south. 

Once  more  a  special  effort  was  made  to  occupy  the 
territory,  and  a  monopoly  of  trade  was  granted  to  Arthur 
1714  Crozart,  who  was  to  send  every  year  two  ships  laden  with 
merchandise  and  emigrants,  and  also  a  cargo  of  slaves  from 
Africa.  The  French  government  was  to  appropriate  an- 
nually about  ^en  thousand  dollars  to  defray  the  expense 
of  forts  and  necessary  protection. 

A  trading  house  was  established  up  the  Red  River  at 
Natchitoches,  and  one  up  the  Alabama  near  the  site  of 
Montgomery  ;  Fort  Rosalie  became  a  centre  of  trade,  and 


FOUNDING   OF   NEW   ORLEANS.  261 

the  germ  of  the  present  city  of  Natchez — the  oldest  town   chap 
on  the  Mississippi.  

Bienville  put  the  convicts  to  work  on  a  cane-brake  to  1718. 
remove  the  trees  and  shrubs  "  from  a  savage  and  desert 
place/'  and  built  a  few  huts.  Such  were  the  feeble  begin- 
nings of  New  Orleans,  which  it  was  prophesied  would 
yet  become  M  a  rich  city,  the  metropolis  of  a  great  colony." 
Still  the  colony  did  not  prosper  ;  instead  of  obtaining 
their  supplies  from  that  fruitful  region,  they  were  depend- 
ent on  France  and  St.  Domingo.  Labor  was  irksome  to 
the  convicts  and  vagabonds,  and  the  overflowings  of  the 
river,  and  the  unhealthiness  of  the  climate  retarded  prog- 
ress. The  chief  hope  for  labor  was  based  on  the  impor- 
tation of  negroes  from  Africa. 

Some  German  settlers,  who,  a  few  years  before,  had 
been  induced  by  one  Law,  a  great  stock-jobbing  and  land 
speculator,  to  emigrate  to  the  banks  of  the  Arkansas,  de- 
cided to  remove.  A  tract  of  land,  lying  twenty  miles 
above  New  Orleans,  known  now  as  the  "  German  coast," 
was  given  them.  Their  settlement  was  in  contrast  with  1T2> 
the  others.  They  were  industrious,  and  cultivated  their 
farms,  raised  vegetables,  rice,  and  other  provisions  ;  also 
tobacco  and  indigo.  The  fig  and  the  orange  were  now 
introduced.  The  Illinois  region  had  been  settled  by  emi- 
grants from  Canada,  who  raised  wheat  and  sent  flour  to 
the  colonists  below.  The  priests  meanwhile  were  not  idle 
in  teaching  the  Indians,  and  a  convent  was  founded  at 
New  Orleans  for  the  education  of  girls.  As  the  colonists 
had  not  energy  enough  to  protect  themselves,  a  thousand 
soldiers  were  sent  from  France  for  that  purpose.  1724 

The  Choctaws,  the  allies  of  the  French,  occupied  the 
region  between  the  lower  Mississippi  and  the  Alabama. 
The  principal  village  of  the  Natchez  tribe  was  on  the 
bluff  where  now  stands  the  city  of  that  name.  They 
were  not  a  numerous  people,  unlike  the  tribes  among 
whom  they  dwelt,  in  their  language  as  well  as  in  their 


262 


HISTOKY   OF  THE    AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 


CHAP,    religion.     Like  the  Peruvians,  they  were  worshippers  of 

the  sun,  and  in  their  great  wigwam  they  kept  an  undying 

1724.  fire.  Their  principal  chief  professed  to  be  a  descendant 
of  the  sun.  They  became  justly  alarmed  at  the  encroach- 
ments of  the  French,  who  having  Fort  Kosalie,  demanded 
*  the  soil  on  which  stood  their  principal  village,  for  a  farm. 
They  suddenly  fell  upon  the  white  intruders  and  killed 
two  hundred  of  their  number,  and  took  captive  their  women 
and  children.  The  negro  slaves  joined  the  Indians.  Their 
principal  chief,  the  Great  Sun,  had  the  heads  of  the 
French  officers  slain  in  the  battle  arranged  around  him, 
1780.  that  he  might  smoke  his  pipe  in  triumph  ; — his  triumph 
was  short.  A  company,  consisting  of  French  and  Choc- 
taws,  under  Le  Suer,  came  up  from  New  Orleans,  and 
surprised  them  while  they  were  yet  celebrating  their  vie* 
tory.  The  Great  Sun  and  four  hundred  of  his  people  were 
taken  captive  and  sent  to  St.  Domingo  as  slaves.  Some 
of  the  Natchez  escaped  and  fled  to  the  Chickasaws,  and 
some  fled  beyond  the  Mississippi ;  their  land  passed  into 
the  hand  of  strangers,  and  soon,  they  as  a  people  were 
unknown. 

The  territory  of  the  brave  Chickasaws,  almost  sur- 
rounding that  of  the  Natchez,  extended  north  to  the  Ohio, 
and  east  to  the  land  of  the  Cherokees.  They  were  the 
enemies  of  the  French,  whose  boats,  trading  from  Canada 
and  Illinois  to  New  Orleans,  they  were  accustomed  to 
plunder.  English  traders  from  Carolina  were  careful  to 
increase  this  enmity  toward  their  rivals. 
1786  Two  expeditions  were  set  on  foot  to  chastise  these  bold 

marauders.  Bienville  came  up  from  the  south  with  a 
fleet  of  boats  and  canoes,  and  a  force  of  twelve  hundred 
Choctaws  ;  he  paddled  up  the  Tombecbee  as  far  as  he 
could,  and  then  hastened  across  the  country  to  surprise 
one  of  their  fortified  places.  D'Artaguette  hastened  down 
from  the  Illinois  country,  of  which  he  was  governor,  with 
fifty  Frenchmen  and  a  thousand  Indians,  to  attack  an- 


EXPEDITION   AGAINST   LOUI8BURG.  263 

other  of  their  strongholds.     The   Chickasaws   were   too  c5^>- 
vigilant  to  be  thus  surprised.     They  repulsed  Bienville,  , 

dispersed  the  forces  of  D'Artaguette,  took  him  prisoner,  1735. 

and  burned  him  at  the  stake.    Once  more  an  attempt  was  May 

20 

made  with  all  the  force  the  French  could  bring  to  crush 
this  warlike  tribe,  but  in  vain  ;  the  patriotic  Chickasaws 
successfully  defended  their  country  against  the  foreign  foe.    VMk 

These  reverses  did  not  deter  the  persevering  French 
from  establishing  trading  houses  south  of  Lake  Erie,  and 
down  the  Alleghany  to  the  Ohio,  and  thence  to  the  Mis- 
sissippi. The  people  of  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  and 
Virginia  became  alarmed  at  these  encroachments  on  their 
territory.  The  Iroquois  professed  to  have  conquered  all 
the  valley  of  the  Ohio,  and  they  claimed  a  vast  region  to 
the  north-west  as  their  hunting  grounds.  Commissioners 
from  the  above  colonies  met  the  envoys  of  the  Iroquois  at  174a. 
Lancaster,  and  purchased  from  them  for  £400  all  their  Jul7« 
claim  to  the  regions  which  they  professed  to  own  between 
the  Blue  Kidge  and  the  Alleghany  mountains. 

The  colonies  had  enjoyed  nearly  thirty  years  of  com- 
parative freedom  from  French  and  Indian  incursions,  when 
they  were  involved  in  what  is  known  as  King  George's    174^ 
War. 

The  first  intimation  of  hostilities  was  an  attack  upon 
the  fort  at  Canso,  in  which  the  garrison  was  captured  and 
carried  to  Louisburg.  Louisburg  was  the  great  strong- 
hold of  the  French  on  this  continent ;  the  centre  from 
which  privateering  expeditions  were  fitted  out,  that  had 
nearly  destroyed  the  commerce  as  well  as  the  fisheries  of 
New  England.  To  prevent  these  depredations,  and  the 
inroads  to  which  the  French  incited  their  Indian  allies, 
Governor  Shirley,  of  Massachusetts,  proposed  to  the  Gen- 
eral Court  to  take  Louisburg.  No  aid  was  expected  from 
the  mother  country — she  was  too  much  engaged  at  home  ; 
but  the  other  colonies  were  invited  to  enlist  in  the  com- 
mon cause.      New  Jersey  and   Pennsylvania  agreed  to 


264  HISTOEY  OF  THE   AMEKICAN   PEOPLE. 

chap   furnish  money,  but  declined  to  send  men  ;  New  York 

L  furnished  money  and  some  cannon  ;  Connecticut  offered 

1744.  five  hundred  men  ;  Rhode  Island  and  New  Hampshire 
each  furnished  a  regiment.  Massachusetts  proposed  the 
expedition,  was  the  most  interested  in  its  success,  bore 
the  greater  part  of  the  expense,  and  furnished  the  greater 
portion  of  the  men  and  vessels.  The  fishermen,  especially 
those  of  Marblehead,  entered  upon  the  enterprise  with 
alacrity.  Their  fisheries  had  been  almost  ruined  and  they 
thrown  out  of  employment,  by  the  continued  forays  from 
Louisburg.  Farmers,  mechanics,  and  lumbermen  volun- 
teered in  great  numbers.  Here  were  citizen  soldiers, 
without  a  single  man  whose  knowledge  of  military  tactics 
went  beyond  bush-fighting  with  the  Indians,  and  all 
equally  ignorant  of  the  proper  means  to  be  used  in  redu- 
cing a  fortified  place.  A  wealthy  merchant,  William  Pep- 
perell,  of  Maine,  was  elected  commander.  The  artillery 
was  under  the  direction  of  Gridley,  the  same  who,  thirty 
years  afterward,  held  a  similar  position  in  an  American 
army  under  very  different  circumstances.  The  enthusiasm 
was  great,  and  what  was  lacking  in  means  and  skill,  was 
supplied  by  zeal.  A  strong  Protestant  sentiment  was 
mingled  with  the  enterprise,  and  Whitefield,  then  on  his 
third  tour  of  preaching  in  the  colonies,  was  urged  to  fur- 
nish a  motto  for  a  banner.  He  promptly  suggested,  "  Nil 
desperandum,  Christo  duce," — "  Nothing  is  to  be  despaired 
of  when  Christ  is  leader."  He  also  preached  to  them  an 
inspiriting  sermon,  and  they  sailed,  like  the  Crusaders  of 
old,  confident  of  success. 
^45  In  April  the  fleet  arrived  at  Canso,  but  owing  to  the 

ice,  could  not  enter  the  harbor  of  Louisburg.  Intelligence 
of  the  expedition  had  been  sent  to  England,  and  Admiral 
Warren,  who  commanded  on  the  West  India  station,  was 
invited  to  join  in  the  enterprise.  He  declined  for  want  of 
explicit  orders,  but  afterward  receiving  permission,  he 
hastened  to  join  them  with  four  men-of-war. 


LOUISBUBG   CAPTURED.  265 

The  whole  armament  was  now  put  in  motion  for  Lou-   c^|p, 

isbnrg.     That  stronghold  had  walls  forty  feet  thick,  thirty  

feet  high,  and  surrounded  by  a  ditch  eighty  feet  wide,    1745. 
with  protecting  forts  around  it,  manned  by  nearly  two 
hundred  and  fifty  cannon,  small  and  great,  and  garrisoned 
by  sixteen  hundred  men. 

As  the  fleet  approached,  the  French  came  down  to  the 
beach  to  oppose  their  landing,  but  in  a  moment  the  "  whale 
boats,"  filled  with  armed  men,  were  "  flying  like  eagles" 
to  the  shore.  Their  opposers,  panic-stricken,  fled  ;  and 
the  following  night  the  soldiers  of  the  royal  battery,  one 
of  the  outside  forts,  spiked  their  cannon  and  retreated  to 
the  town.  The  deserted  fort  was  immediately  taken  pos- 
session of,  and  the  gunsmiths  went  to  work  to  bore  out 
the  spikes.  The  next  day  a  detachment  marched  round 
the  town,  giving  it  three  cheers  as  they  passed,  and  took 
up  a  position  that  completely  enclosed  the  place  on  the 
land  side,  while  the  fleet  did  the  same  toward  the  ocean. 
They  threw  up  batteries,  dragged  their  cannon  over  a 
morass,  and  brought  them  to  bear  upon  the  fortress. 

These  amateur  soldiers  soon  became  accustomed  to 
encamping  in  the  open  air,  and  sleeping  in  the  woods,  as 
well  as  to  the  cannon-balls  sent  among  them  by  the  be- 
sieged. They  not  only  prevented  ships  from  entering  the 
harbor,  but  found  means  to  decoy  into  the  midst  of  their 
fleet  and  capture  a  man-of-war  of  sixty-four  guns,  laden 
with  stores  for  the  fort.  This  loss  so  much  disheartened 
the  garrison  that,  after  a  siege  of  seven  weeks,  Louisburg  ^* 
surrendered.  The  news  of  this  success  sent  a  thrill  of 
joy  throughout  the  colonies.  It  was  the  greatest  feat 
of  the  war,  and  was  accomplished  by  undisciplined  volun- 
teers. 

France  resolved,  at  any  cost,  to  recover  her  stronghold, 
and  also  to  desolate  the  English  colonies.  The  fleet  sent 
for  the  purpose  was  disabled  by  storms,  while  pestilence 
wasted  the  men.     The  commander,  the  Duke  d'Anville, 


266  HISTORY   OF  THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

chap,   suddenly  died,  and  his  successor,  a  short  time  after,  com- 

mitted  suicide.    The  next  year,  the  fleet  sent  for  the  same 

1746.    purpose  was  forced  to  strike  its  colors  to  an  English  squad- 
ron under  Admirals  Anson  and  Warren. 

Though  thus  successful,  the  frontier  settlements  still 
suffered  greatly,  and  in  self-defence  the  old  project  was 
revived  of  conquering  Canada.  The  government  of  Eng- 
land required  all  the  colonies,  as  far  south  as  Virginia,  to 
furnish  men  and  means.  Eight  thousand  men  were  raised, 
of  which  number  Massachusetts  furnished  nearly  one-half. 
The  British  ministry  suddenly  changed  their  mind,  and 
the  enterprise  was  abandoned.  Soon  after,  the  treaty  of 
Ait  la  Chapelle  was  concluded,  by  which  all  places  taken 
by  either  party  during  the  war  were  to  be  restored.  Thus 
Louisburg,  the  capture  of  which  was  so  gratifying  to  the 
colonists,  and  so  significant  of  their  daring  spirit,  passed 
1748.    again  into  the  hands  of  the  French. 

The  ministry  did  not  relish  the  ardor  and  independ- 
ence of  the  colonists,  who  appeared  to  have,  according  to 
Admiral  Warren,  "  the  highest  notions  of  the  rights  and 
liberties  of  Englishmen  ;  and,  indeed,  as  almost  levellers." 
It  was  in  truth  the  foreshadowing  of  their  complete  inde- 
pendence of  the  mother  country,  and  measures  were  taken 
\>y  her  to  make  them  more  subservient.  They  were  for- 
bidden to  have  any  manufactures,  to  trade  to  any  place 
out  of  the  British  dominions,  while  no  other  nation  than 
the  English  were  permitted  to  trade  with  them.  "  These 
oppressions,"  says  an  intelligent  traveller  of  that  day, 
"  may  make,  within  thirty  or  fifty  years,  the  colonies  en- 
tirely independent  of  England." 
i 

For  many  years  there  had  been  a  marked  decline  in 
religion  in  New  England.  A  peculiar  union  of  church 
and  state  had  led  to  a  sort  of  compromise  between  the 
two,  known  as  the  "  Half-way  covenant,"  by  which  per- 
sons who  had  been  baptized,  but  without  pretensions  tc 


JONATHAN   EDWARDS. — THE    GREAT   REVIVAL.  267 

personal  piety,  were   admitted   to   the  full  privileges  of    chap 
church  members.  

In  the  midst  of  this  declension  a  religious  u  Awaken-  1785. 
ing,"  better  known  as  the  "  Great  Kevival,"  commenced 
at  Northampton,  in  Massachusetts,  under  the  preaching 
of  Jonathan  Edwards,  a  young  man  remarkable  for  his 
intellectual  endowments.  His  sermons  were  doctrinal  and 
strongly  Calvinistic.  His  religious  character  had  been 
early  developed.  At  thirteen  he  entered  Yale  College ; 
thoughtful  beyond  his  years,  a  metaphysician  by  nature, 
at  that  early  age  he  was  enraptured  with  the  perusal  of  • 
Locke  on  the  "  Understanding."  Secluded  from  the  world 
by  the  love  of  study,  he  penetrated  far  into  the  mysteries 
of  the  workings  of  the  human  mind. 

Edwards  drew  from  the  Bible  the  knowledge  of  the 
true  relation  between  the  church  and  the  world.  The 
contest  was  long  and  strenuous,  but  the  lines  were  clearly 
drawn,  and  from  that  day  to  this  the  distinction  is  marked 
and  appreciated.  "  He  repudiated  the  system  of  the  Half- 
way covenant,"  and  proclaimed  the  old  doctrines  of  "  the 
sole  right  of  the  sanctified  to  enjoy  the  privileges  of  church 
members,  and  of  salvation  by  faith  alone."  As  the  influ- 
ence of  the  state  in  religious  matters  thus  began  to  fade 
away,  a  closer  spiritual  relation  of  men  to  men,  not  as 
members  of  a  commonwealth  alone,  but  as  members  of  a 
great  brotherhood,  gained  in  importance. 

Parties  sprang  into  existence ;  those  who  favored  a 
more  spiritual  life  in  religion  were  stigmatized  as  "  New 
Lights,"  while  the  steady  conservatives  were  known  as 
the  "  Old  Lights."  So  bitter  was  the  feeling  that  in  Con- 
necticut the  civil  authority  was  invoked,  and  severe  laws  1744 
were  enacted  against  the  New  Lights.  The  controversy 
was  so  warm  that  Edwards  was  driven  from  his  congrega- 
tion— at  that  time,  "the  largest  Protestant  society  in  the 
world."  He  went  as  a  missionary  to  the  Housatonic  In- 
dians at  Stockbridge,  Massachusetts.    There  in  the  forest, 


HISTORY  OF  THE   AMERICAN"  PEOPLE. 

chap,   amid  toils  and  privations,  he  wrote  his  far-famed  treatise 

on  the  "  Freedom  of  the  Will/'  which  has  exerted  so 

1750.    much  influence  in  the  theological  world,  while  the  writer 
was  the  first  American  that  obtained  a  European  reputa- 
tion as  an  author. 
1740.  During  this  period  Whitefield  came,  by  invitation,  to 

New  England.  He  had  been  preaching  in  the  south  with 
unexampled  success.  At  intervals,  for  more  than  thirty 
years,  he  preached  the  gospel  from  colony  to  colony.  "  Hun- 
dreds of  thousands  heard  the  highest  evangelical  truths 
uttered  with  an  eloquence  probably  never  equalled."  The 
influence  of  the  awakening  spread  till  all  the  colonies 
were  visited  by  the  same  blessings,  especially  the  Presby- 
terians of  New  York,  New  Jersey,  and  Pennsylvania,  and 
in  a  less  degree  in  the  more  southern  colonies.  These 
influences  were  not  limited  to  that  age,  for  similar  revivals 
have  continued  to  our  own  times. 

The  Baptists,  hitherto  but  few  in  number,  received  a 
new  impulse,  as  many  of  the  New  Light  churches  adopted 
their  views ;  and  the  preaching  of  Whitefield  prepared 
the  way  for  the  success  of  the  Methodists. 

The  revival  created  a  want  for  ministers  of  the  gospel, 
to  supply  which,  the  Rev.  William  Tennent  established 
an  academy  at  Neshaminy  ;  an  institution  where  young 
men  professing  the  religious  fervor  that  characterized  those 
prominent  in  the  revival,  could  be  prepared  for  the  sacred 
office.     This  was  the  germ  of  Princeton  College. 

This  religious  sentiment  met  with  little  sympathy 
from  the  authorities  of  the  colony,  and  with  difficulty  a 
174«.  charter  was  obtained.  The  institution  was  named  Nassau 
Hall,  in  honor  of  the  great  Protestant  hero,  William  III. 
It  was  first  located  at  Elizabethtown,  then  at  Newark, 
1757.  and  finally  at  Princeton.  Its  success  was  unexampled  ; 
in  ten  years  the  number  of  students  increased  from  eight 
to  ninety. 


CHAPTER    XXI. 

FRENCH    AND    INDIAN    WAR. 

The  Valley  of  the  Ohio. — French  and  English  Claimants. — Gist  the  Pioneer. 
— George  Washington ;  his  Character ;  his  Mission  to  the  French  on 
the  Alleghany. — Returns  to  Williamsburg. — St.  Pierre's  Letter  unsatis- 
factory.— Virginians  driven  from  the  Ohio. — Fort  Du  Quesne  built. — 
Washington  sent  to  defend  the  Frontiers. — Conflict  at  Fort  Necessity. — 
The  Fort  abandoned. — British  Troops  arrive  in  America. — Plan  of  oper- 
ations.— General  Braddock ;  his  qualifications. — The  Army  marches 
from  Wills'  Creek. — Obstinacy  of  Braddock. — Arrival  on  the  Mononga- 
hela.— The  Battle. — Defeat.— Death  and  Burial  of  Braddock.— Dun- 
bar's  Panic. — The  Frontiers  left  unprotected. 

Scarcely  an  English  colonist  had  yet  settled  in  the  val-   cbaj1 

ley  of  the  Ohio.     The  traders  who  visited  the  Indians  in  m 

that  region,  told  marvellous  stories  of  the  fertility  of  the  1749. 
soil,  and  the  desirableness  of  the  climate.  It  was  pro- 
posed to  found  a  colony  west  of  the  Alleghany  mountains. 
The  governor  of  Virginia  received  royal  instructions  to 
grant  the  "  Ohio  Company  "  five  hundred  thousand  acres 
of  land  lying  between  the  rivers  Monongahela  and  Kana- 
wha, and  on  the  Ohio.  The  company  engaged  to  send  one 
hundred  families  ;  to  induce  them  to  emigrate  they  offered 
them  freedom  from  quit-rents  for  ten  years. 

Meantime,  the  French  sent  three  hundred  men  to  ex- 
pel the  English  traders  and  take  possession  of  the  valley. 
They  also  sent  agents,  who  passed  through  the  territory 
north  of  the  Ohio  river,  and  at  various  points  nailed  on 
the  trees  plates  of  lead,  on  which  were  inscribed  the  arms 
of  France.     This  they  were  careful  to  do  in  the  presence 


270  HISTOKT   OF  THE  AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

Cxxf '   °^  *^e  ^n(iian8J  wno  suspected  they  intended  to  take  away 

their  lands.     When  the  English  came  and  made  surveys 

1749.  on  the  south  side  of  the  Ohio,  they  asked  them  the  puz- 
zling question :  "  If  the  French  take  possession  of  the 
north  side  of  the  Ohio,  and  the  English  of  the  south, 
where  is  the  Indian's  land  ?  " 

At  Wills'  Creek,  now  Cumberland,  Maryland,  one  of 
the  easiest  passes  over  the  mountains  commenced.  Here 
the  Ohio  Company  established  a  place  of  deposit  to  sup- 
ply Indian  traders  with  goods.  They  also  wished  to 
explore  the  Ohio  river  to  the  great  falls  ;  to  ascertain  the 
location  of  the  best  lands,  and  whether  the  Indians  were 
friendly  or  unfriendly.  They  employed  for  this  dangerous 
and  difficult  task  the  celebrated  trader  and  pioneer  Chris- 
topher Gist,  who  crossed  the  mountains  and  came  upon 
the  Alleghany  river,  at  a  village  occupied  by  a  few  Dela- 
ware Indians.  Thence  he  passed  down  to  Logstown,  a 
sort  of  head-quarters  for  traders,  situated  some  miles 
below  the  junction  of  that  river  and  the  Monongahela. 
Here  dwelt  a  renowned  chief  of  the  western  tribes,  Tana- 
charison,  or  half-king,  as  he  was  called,  because  he  ac- 
knowledged a  sort  of  allegiance  to  the  Mohawks.  "  You 
are  come  to  settle  the  Indian  lands,"  said  the  resident 
traders,  whose  suspicions  were  roused  ;  "  you  will  never  go 
home  safe."  Gist  traversed  the  region  of  the  Muskingum 
and  of  the  Scioto,  then  crossed  the  Ohio,  and  passed  up 
the  Cuttawa  or  Kentucky  to  its  very  springs.  He  gave  a 
glowing  account  of  the  beauty  and  fertility  of  the  region 
he  had  visited.  It  was  covered  with  trees  of  immense 
size,  the  wild  cherry,  the  ash,  the  black  walnut,  and  the 
sugar  maple,  the  two  latter  giving  indubitable  proof  of  the 
fertility  of  the  soil ;  a  land  abounding  in  never-failing 
springs  and  rivulets,  forests  interspersed  with  small  mead- 
ows, covered  with  long  grass  and  white  clover,  on  which 
fed  herds  of  elk,  deer,  and  buffalo,  while  the  wild  turkey 
and  other  game  promised  abundance  to  the  hunter  and 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON.  271 

pioneer.    Such  was  the  primitive  character  of  the  territory  c-^>- 
since  known  as  the  State  of  Ohio.  

He  ascertained  that  French  emissaries  were  visiting  1749. 
all  the  western  tribes,  to  induce  them  to  take  up  arms 
against  the  English  ;  that  the  Indians  looked  upon  both 
as  intruders,  and  though  willing  to  trade  with  both,  were 
unwilling  that  either  should  occupy  their  lands.  The 
French  saw  that  if  the  English  obtained  a  foothold  on  the 
Ohio,  they  would  cut  off  the  communication  between  the 
Lakes  and  the  Mississippi;  The  final  struggle  for  the 
supremacy  in  the  valley  was  near  at  hand. 

"While  the  English,  by  invitation  of  the  Indians,  were 
approaching  from  the  south,  to  build  a  fort  at  the  head  of 
the  Ohio,  the  French  were  approaching  the  same  point 
from  the  north.  The  latter  had  built  war  vessels  at  Fron- 
tenac  to  give  them  the  command  of  Lake  Ontario  ;  they 
had  strengthened  themselves  by  treaties  with  the  most 
powerful  tribes,  the  Shawnees  and  the  Dela  wares  ;  they 
had  repaired  Fort  Niagara,  at  the  foot  of  Lake  Erie,  and 
at  this  time  had  not  less  than  sixty  fortified  and  well  gar- 
risoned posts  between  Montreal  and  New  Orleans.  They 
had  also  built  a  fort  at  Presque  Isle,  now  Erie,  one  on 
French  Creek,  on  the  site  of  Waterford,  and  another  at 
the  junction  of  that  creek  with  the  Alleghany,  now  the 
village  of  Franklin. 

Dinwiddie,  governor  of  Virginia,  resolved  to  send  a 
messenger  to  remonstrate  with  the  French  for  intruding 
on  English  territory.  Where  could  he  find  a  .man  of  en- 
ergy and  prudence  to  trust  in  this  laborious  and  perilous 
undertaking  ?  His  attention  was  directed  to  a  mere 
youth,  in  his  twenty-second  year,  a  surveyor,  who,  in  the 
duties  of  his  profession,  had  become  somewhat  familiar  H&% 
with  the  privations  of  forest  life.  That  young  man  was  22. 
George  Washington.  He  was  a  native  of  Westmoreland 
county,  Yirginia.  The  death  of  his  father  left  him  an 
orphan  when  eleven  years  of  age.     The  wealthy  Virginia 


272  HISTOEY   OF  THE   AMEEICAK   PEOPLE. 

3HAP.    planters  of  those  days  were   accustomed  to   send  their 

sons  to  England  to  complete  their  education,  and  thus 

1749.  had  Lawrence,  his  half-brother,  fourteen  years  older  than 
himself,  been  educated.  No  such  privilege  was  in  store 
for  George.  His  father's  death  may  have  interfered  with 
such  plans  :  be  that  as  it  may,  he  was  sent  to  the  com- 
mon school  in  the  neighborhood,  and  there  taught  only 
the  simplest  branches  of  an  English  education — to  spell, 
to  read,  to  write,  to  cipher.  When  older,  he  went  for  some 
time  to  an  academy  of  a  somewhat  higher  grade,  where  he 
devoted  his  time  particularly  to  the  study  of  mathematics. 

Though  his  school  advantages  were  so  limited,  it  was 
his  inestimable  privilege  to  have  a  mother  endowed  with 
good  sense,  united  to  decision  of  character  and  Christian 
principle,— she  inspired  love,  she  enforced  obedience. 
From  her  he  inherited  an  ardent,  impulsive  temper — from 
her  he  received  its  antidote  ;  she  taught  him  to  hold  it  in 
subjection. 

The  early  life  of  George  Washington  furnishes  an  ex- 
ample worthy  the  imitation  of  the  youth  of  his  country. 
We  are  told  of  his  love  of  truth,  of  his  generous  and  noble 
acts,  that  he  won  the  confidence  of  his  schoolmates,  and 
received  from  them  that  respect  which  virtue  alone  can 
secure. 

He  was  systematic  and  diligent  in  all  his  studies. 
There  may  yet  be  seen,  in  the  library  at  Mount  Vernon, 
the  book  in  which  he  drew  his  first  exercises  in  surveying  ; 
every  diagram  made  with  the  utmost  care.  Thus  was 
foreshadowed  in  the  youth  what  was  fully  developed  in 
the  man.  At  the  early  age  of  sixteen,  we  find  him  in  the 
woods  on  the  frontiers  of  Virginia,  performing  his  duties 
as  a  surveyor  ;  making  his  measurements  with  so  much 
accuracy  that  to  this  day  they  are  relied  upon. 

We  must  not  suppose  that  the  studious  and  sedate 
youth,  with  his  rules  for  governing  his  "  conversation  and 
conduct "  carefully  written  out,  and  as  carefully  observed 


THE   FORMATION   OF   HIS   CHARAOTEB. 


273 


was  destitute  of  boyish  feelings.    He  had  his  youthful  chap. 
sports  and  enjoyments  ;  he  could  exhibit  feats  of  strength  . 

and  skill ;  could  ride  a  horse  or  throw  a  stone  with  any    1742. 
boy,  and  was  so  far  military  in  his  tastes  as  occasionally  to 
drill  his  school-fellows  during  recess. 

His  brother  Lawrence  had  spent  some  time  in  the  Eng- 
lish navy,  and  George  had  often  heard  of  the  excitements 
of  the  seaman's  life,  and  had  boyish  longings  for  adven- 
tures on  the  ocean.  Circumstances  seemed  to  favor  his 
wishes.  When  fourteen,  it  was  decided  that  he  should 
enter  the  navy.  The  man-of-war  on  which  he  was  to  go 
as  a  midshipman  was  lying  in  the  Potomac  ;  his  baggage 
was  ready,  but  when  the  parting  hour  came  the  mother's 
heart  failed.  Though  deeply  disappointed,  George  yielded 
to  her  wish,  and  relinquished  his  anticipated  pleasure. 

Though  Washington  was  born  and  spent  his  youth  in 
the  wilds  of  Virginia,  there  were  many  refining  influences 
brought  to  bear  upon  the  formation  of  his  character.  He 
was  intimate  for  years  in  the  Fairfax  family,  who  brought 
with  them  to  their  western  home  the  refinement  and  cul- 
ture of  the  English  aristocracy  of  that  day.  Neither 
must  we  overlook  the  benign  influence  exerted  over  him 
by  his  educated  and  benevolent  brother  Lawrence,  who, 
up  to  the  time  of  his  death,  watched  over  his  young 
brother  with  a  father's  care,  as  well  as  a  brother's  love. 

The  influence  of  Christian  principle  governing  the  im- 
pulses of  a  noble  nature,  was  the  secret  of  the  moral 
excellence,  the  dignified  integrity,  unaffected  candor,  and 
sterling  worth,  which  shone  forth  in  the  character  of 
Washington, — a  name  so  much  blended  with  the  liberties 
of  his  country,  and  so  much  cherished  and  honored  by  the 
Mends  of  humanity  in  every  clime. 

Governor  Dinwiddie  gave  his  youthful  messenger  a 
letter  for  the  French  commandant  on  the  Ohio,  in  which 
he  demanded  of  him  his  reasons  for  invading  the  territory 
of  England.     The  very  day  on  whicb   Washington  re- 


274  HISTORY   OF  THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

Cxxl*  ce*ve(*  *"s  credentials,  (October  30,)  lie  left  Williamsburg 

, for  Winchester,  then  a  frontier  town  of  Virginia.    By  the 


1758.  middle  of  November  his  preparations  were  completed. 
With  a  company  consisting  of  the  intrepid  Gist,  who 
acteci  as  guide,  two  interpreters,  and  four  others,  he  set 
out  from  Wills'  Creek.  A.  journey  of  nine  days,  through 
solitudes  and  mountain  passes,  and  across  streams  swollen 
by  recent  rains,  brought  them  to  where  the  Monongahela, 
that  river  "  so  deep  and  still/'  meets  the  "  swift  running 
Alleghany."  Washington  explored  the  neighborhood,  and 
remarks  in  his  journal :  "  The  land  at  the  Fork  is 
extremely  well  situated  for  a  fort,  as  it  has  absolute 
command  of  both  rivers."  Thus  thought  the  French  en- 
gineers, who  afterward  on  that  very  spot  built  Fort  Du 
Quesne. 

Shingis,  chief  sachem  of  the  Delawares,  who  afterward 
took  up  arms  against  the  English,  accompanied  him  to 
Logstown.  Here,  by  his  instructions,  Washington  was  to 
confer  with  the  Indian  chiefs :  he  summoned  them  to  a 
grand  talk.  They  would  not  commit  themselves  ;  they 
had  heard  that  the  French  were  coming  with  a  strong 
force  to  drive  the  English  out  of  the  land.  But  he  in- 
duced three  of  them  to  accompany  him  to  the  station  of 
the  French  commandant ;  among  these  was  the  Half- 
King. 

When  he  arrived  at  Venango,  or  Franklin,  the  officer 
in  command  referred  him  to  the  Chevalier  St.  Pierre, 
general  officer  at  the  next  post.  Meanwhile  he  was 
treated  with  politeness,  and  invited  by  the  French  officers 
to  a  supper.  The  wine  passed  freely,  and  the  talka- 
tive Frenchmen  began  to  boast  of  their  plans  ;  they 
would  ft  take  possession  of  the  Ohio  ;  the  English  could 
raise  two  men  for  their  one,  but  they  were  too  slow  and 
•  dilatory."  The  sober  and  cautious  Washington  marked 
well  their  words.  The  three  chiefs  had  promised  well ; 
they  would  give  back  the  speech  belts  to  the  French  ; 


THE   VIRGINIANS    DBIVEN    FBOM   THE   OHIO. 


275 


they  were  friends  to  the  English.     But  when  plied  with  chap 

drink,  and  hailed  hy  the  French  as  "  Indian  brothers,"  1 

they  wavered  for  a  time.  1753. 

Washington  obtained  an  interview  with  St.  Pierre, 
"an  ancient  and  silver-haired  chevalier,  courteous  hut 
ceremonious,"  and  after  some  delay  received  an  answer  to 
his  despatches,  and  hastened  homeward.  As  the  pack- 
horses  were  disabled,  he  left  them  and  the  baggage,  and 
with  Gist  for  his  only  companion  struck  out  into  the  wil- 
derness. The  cold  was  intense,  the  snow  was  falling,  and 
freezing  as  it  fell.  Wrapped  in  Indian  blankets,  with 
their  guns  in  their  hands  and  knapsacks  on  their  backs, 
and  a  compass  to  guide  them,  they  pushed  on  toward  the 
Alleghany  river,  which  they  hoped  to  cross  on  the  ice. 
Their  journey  through  the  pathless  wild  was  marked  by 
some  mishaps  and  hairbreadth  escapes.  Their  lives  were 
endangered  by  a  false  guide,  and  Washington  in  endeav- 
oring to  force  his  way  through  the  ice  in  the  river,  came 
near  perishing  ;  but,  on  the  sixteenth  of  January,  they  1754 
arrived  safely  at  Williamsburg. 

The  answer  of  St.  Pierre  was  courteous  but  indefinite. 
He  referred  the  matter  to  the  Marquis  Du  Quesne,  the 
governor  of  Canada.  It  was  clear,  however,  that  he  did 
not  intend  to  retire  from  the  valley  of  the  Ohio.  This 
was  still  more  evident  from  the  preparations  of  boats,  ar- 
tillery, and  military  stores,  which  Washington  noticed  up 
the  Alleghany,  waiting  for  the  spring  flood,  when  they 
would  be  taken  to  their  place  of  destination. 

The  following  spring  the  Ohio  Company  sent  between 
thirty  and  forty  men  to  build  a  fort  at  the  head  of  the 
Ohio.  The  French  were  on  the  alert ;  a  company  of  sol- 
diers floated  down  the  Alleghany,  who  surprised  and  sur- 
rounded them  at  their  work.  They  must  surrender  in  an 
hour's  time  or  defend  themselves  against  a  thousand  men. 
They  were  glad  to  leave  their  unfinished  fort  and  return 


276  HISTORY   OF  THE    AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

chap,   to  Virginia.      The   French   took   immediate   possession 

1  finished  it,  and  named  it  Du  Quesne. 

1754.  At  the  early  age  of  nineteen  Washington  had  been 

appointed  Adjutant- General  of  the  northern  district  of 
Virginia,  an  office  which  he  filled  to  the  entire  satisfaction 
of  his  countrymen.  Now  he  received  the  commission  of 
lieutenant-colonel,  with  orders  to  protect  the  frontiers. 
He  was  also  offered  the  command  of  the  expedition  against 
the  French  at  Fort  Du  Quesne.  This  he  declined  on  ac- 
count of  his  youth  ;  the  command  was  then  conferred 
upon  Colonel  Fry,  who  shortly  after  fell  ill,  and  it  virtu- 
ally passed  into  the  hands  of  Washington.  His  little 
army  was  ill  provided  with  tents  and  military  stores,  and 
poorly  clad.  They  moved  on  very  slowly.  It  was  not 
easy  with  a  train  of  artillery  to  pass  through  the  forests, 
climb  mountains,  and  ford  swollen  rivers.  Washington 
pushed  on  with  a  detachment  for  the  junction  of  the  Red- 
stone and  Monongahela.  There,  on  the  spot  now  known 
as  Brownsville,  he  hoped  to  maintain  his  position  until 
the  main  force  should  come  up,  and  then  they  would  float 
down  the  river  in  flat-boats  to  Fort  Du  Quesne. 

On  the  ninth  of  May  this  detachment  arrived  at  a 
place  called  the  Little  Meadows.  Here  they  met  traders, 
who  informed  them  that  the  French  were  in  great  force  at 
Du  Quesne,  and  that  a  portion  of  them  had  set  out  on  a 
secret  expedition.  There  was  but  little  doubt  as, to  its 
object.  Presently  came  an  Indian  runner  ;  he  had  seen 
the  tracks  of  the  Frenchmen  ;  they  were  near.  The  Half- 
King  with  forty  warriors  was  also  in  the  neighborhood. 
On  a  dark  and  stormy  night,  Washington  and  forty  of  his 
men  groped  their  way  to  his  camp,  which  they  reached 
about  daylight.  This  faithful  ally  put  a  couple  of  runners 
upon  the  enemy's  tracks  ;  they  reported  that  the  French 
were  encamped  in  a  deep  glen,  where  they  had  put  up 
temporary  cabins. 

Washington  arranged  his  company  in  two  divisions,  and 


SURRENDER   OF   FORT   NECESSITY.  277 

bo  effectually  surprised  them  that  few  of  theii  number   chap 

escaped.     Among  the  slain  was  the  youthful  De  Jumon-  1 

ville,  the  leader  of  the  party.  Here  was  shed  the  first  1754 
blood  in  that  seven  years'  struggle,  in  which  the  French 
power  on  this  continent  was  broken.  As  no  reinforce- 
ments were  sent,  Washington  was  greatly  disappointed  ; 
he  could  not  maintain  the  advantage  he  had  gained.  He 
heard  that  a  numerous  force  was  on  its  way  to  attack  him. 
In  a  letter  to  his  friend  Colonel  Fairfax  he  writes  :  "  The 
motives  that  have  led  me  here  are  pure  and  noble.  I  had 
no  view  of  acquisition,  but  that  of  honor  by  serving 
faithfully  my  king  and  country." 

He  built  a  fort  at  the  Great  Meadows,  which,  from 
the  fact  of  famine  pressing  upon  them,  he  named  Fort 
Necessity.  It  is  a  fact  worthy  of  mention,  that  at  this 
encampment  public  prayer  was  daily  observed,  and  con- 
ducted by  the  youthful  commander  himself. 

Soon  five  hundred  French  and  many  hundred  Indians 
appeared  on  the  hills  in  sight  of  the  fort.  He  drew  out 
his  men  for  battle,  but  the  enemy  declined  the  contest. 
Then  he  withdrew  them  within  the  inclosure,  giving  them 
directions  to  fire  only  when  an  enemy  was  in  sight.  This 
irregular  fighting  continued  throughout  the  day.  The 
rain  poured  in  torrents,  and  rendered  useless  many  of 
their  muskets.  At  night  the  French  desired  a  parley ; 
suspecting  stratagem  to  introduce  a  spy,  Washington  at 
first  refused,  but  at  length  consented.  Much  of  the  night 
was  spent  in  negotiation  ;  finally,  the  Virginians  were 
allowed  to  leave  the  fort  with  the  honors  of  war,  and  their 
equipments  and  stores,  except  artillery.  The  next  morn- 
ing the  youthful  hero  led  out  his  men.  The  Indians  im-  jtdj 
mediately  began  to  plunder  ;  Washington,  seeing  this,  8* 
ordered  every  thing  to  be  destroyed  that  the  soldiers  could 
not  carry.  The  loss  of  the  Virginia  regiment,  which 
numbered  about  three  hundred,  was  nearly  fifty  ;  the  loss 
of  the  enemy  was  greater.     After  much  toil  and  suffering. 


278  HISTOET   OF  THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

Cxxl'   ^rom    want  °^  provisions,  they  arrived   at   Cumberland. 

Thus  ended  the  first  military  expedition  of  Washington, 

1754.  Although  unsuccessful,  he  displayed  so  much  prudence 
and  judgment  that  the  people  were  impressed  by  his 
merits,  and  which  the  House  of  Burgesses  acknowledged 
by  a  vote  of  thanks. 

He  was,  however,  soon  after  annoyed  and  mortified  by 
the  course  pursued  by  the  narrow-minded  Dinwiddie,  who, 
unwilling  to  promote  the  provincial  officers,  dissolved  the 
Virginia  regiments,  and  formed  them  into  independent 
companies,  in  which  there  should  be  no  officer  of  higher 
rank  than  that  of  captain.  "With  a  dignity  and  self-respect 
worthy  of  his  character,  Washington  withdrew  from  the 
army.  When  Governor  Sharpe,  of  Maryland,  was  ap- 
pointed commander-in-chief  by  the  king,  he  invited  him, 
through  a  friend,  to  join  it  again  under  the  title  of  colonel, 
but  really  with  no  higher  authority  than  that  of  captain. 
He  declined  the  offer,  writing  in  reply,  "  If  you  think  me 
capable  of  holding  a  commission  that  has  neither  rank 
nor  emolument  annexed  to  it,  you  must  maintain  a  very 
contemptible  opinion  of  my  weakness,  and  believe  me  more 
empty  than  the  commission  itself. "  He  was  still  further 
mortified  by  Dinwiddie's  refusal  to  give  up  the  French 
prisoners,  according  to  the  articles  of  capitulation  at  Fort 
Necessity. 

While  these  contests  were  in  progress  in  the  valley  of 
the  Ohio,  the  French  and  English  nations  were  ostensibly 
at  peace.  Each,  desirous  of  deceiving  the  other,  professed 
to  hope  that  this  little  collision  would  not  interrupt  their 
harmony ;  the  French  still  continued  to  send  ships  to 
America  laden  with  soldiers ;  and  the  English  matured 
plans  to  drive  them  away. 

Matters  took  a  more  decided  form  ;  war  was  not  de- 
clared, but  open  hostilities  commenced,  and  England,  foi 
the  first  time,  sent  an  army  to  aid  the  colonists. 


GENERAL   BRADDOCK — THE   EXPEDITION.  279 

Four  expeditions  were  decided  upon :  one  to  capture  chap 

the  French  posts  near  the  head  of  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  and  1 

sxpel  the  French  from  Acadie  ;  another  against  Crown  1754 
Point,  to  be  led  by  William  Johnson,  Indian  agent  among 
the  Mohawks  ;  the  third,  against  Niagara  and  Frontenac, 
was  to  be  intrusted  to  Shirley,  Governor  of  Massachusetts  ; 
the  fourth  against  Fort  Du  Quesne  ;  the  latter  the  Com- 
mander-in-chief, General  Edward  Braddock,  was  to  lead 
in  person. 

The  struggle  was  about  to  commence  in  earnest; 
British  troops  had  arrived,  and  the  colonies  responded  with 
a  good  will  to  the  call  of  the  mother  country  for  levies  of 
soldiers. 

General  Braddock  was  perfect  in  the  theory  and  prac- 
tice of  mere  military  training ;  he  had  been  in  the 
"  Guards  "  many  years,  where  he  had  drilled  and  drilled, 
but  had  never  seen  actual  service.  With  the  conceited 
assurance  of  inexperience,  he  believed  the  excellencies 
of  the  soldier  were  alone  found  in  the  British  regular — 
the  perfection  of  military  skill  in  British  officers.  To 
these  qualifications  he  added  a  most  supercilious  con- 
tempt for  the  provincial  soldiers  and  their  officers. 

He  was  to  lead  in  person  the  force  against  Fort  Du 
Quesne.  Of  the  difficulties  of  marching  an  army  over  1755 
mountains,  and  through  an  unbroken  wilderness,  he  was 
blindly  ignorant.  He  was  unwilling  to  hear  advice,  or 
even  receive  information  on  the  subject ;  and  when  Wash- 
ington, whom  he  had  invited  to  act  as  one  of  his  aids, 
suggested  that  "  if  the  march  was  to  be  regulated  by  the 
slow  movements  of  the  train,  it  would  be  tedious,  very 
tedious  indeed,"  he  made  no  reply,  but  smiled  at  the  sim- 
plicity of  the  young  man,  who  knew  £0  little  about  the 
movements  of  a  regular  army.  Afterward,  Benjamin 
Franklin  ventured  to  direct  his  attention  to  the  danger  of 
Indian  ambuscades.  To  his  suggestion  Braddock  replied  : 
M  The  Indians  are  no  doubt  formidabl    to  raw  Americans, 


280  HISTORY  OF  THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE. 

CH£P.   but  upon  the  king's  regulars,  and  disciplined  troops,  It  is. 

L  sir,  impossible  they  should  make  any  impression." 

1755.  The  army  assembled  at  Wills'  Creek,  to  which  place 

Braddock  came  in  his  coach,  and  surrounded  by  his  staff, 
"  cursing  the  road  very  heartily  " — its  roughness  had  brok- 
en his  coach,  and  ruffled  his  temper.  He  refused  to  em- 
ploy Indians  as  scouts  on  the  march,  or  to  protect  the 
Pennsylvanians,  who  were  making  a  road  for  the  passage 
of  the  army  ;  hooted  at  the  suggestion  of  Washington  to 
take  as  little  baggage  as  possible,  and  to  employ  pack- 
horses  instead  of  wagons.  The  English  officers  could 
give  up  neither  their  cumbrous  baggage  nor  their  lux- 
uries, neither  could  the  general  dispense  with  "  his 
two  good  cooks,  who  could  make  an  excellent  ragout  out 
of  a  pair  of  boots,  had  they  but  materials  to  toss  them 
up  with." 

June,  After  a  month's  delay,  the  army  commenced  its  march. 

The  difficulties  of  dragging  heavily  laden  wagons  and 
artillery  over  roads  filled  with  stumps  of  trees  and  rocks, 
brought  the  general  partially  to  his  senses,  and  he  inquired 
of  Washington  what  was  the  best  to  be  done.  From 
recent  accounts  it  was  known  that  the  garrison  at  Fort 
Du  Quesne  was  small,  and  he  advised  that  a  division  of 
light  armed  troops  should  be  hurried  forward  to  take  pos- 
session of  the  place,  before  reinforcements  could  arrive 
from  Canada.  Accordingly,  twelve  hundred  choice  men 
were  detached  from  the  main  body  and  pushed  forward, 
taking  with  them  ten  field-pieces,  and  pack-horses  to  carry 
their  baggage.  The  main  division  was  left  under  the  com- 
mand of  Colonel  Dunbar,  with  orders  to  move  on  as  fast 
as  possible. 

The  general  persisted  in  refusing  to  employ  either  In- 
dians or  backwoodsmen  as  scouts.  There  was  a  celebrated 
hunter,  known  all  along  the  frontiers  as  Captain  Jack. 
He  was  "  the  terror  of  the  Indians."  He  had  been  theii 
prisoner,  had  lived  years  among  them,  and  was  familiar 


THE  ARMY  AT  THE  MONONGAHELA.  281 

with  their  habits.     Afterward  he  cleared  for  himself  a  chap 

piece  of  land,  built  his  cabin,  and,  happy  in  his  forest  life,   , 

cultivated  his  ground  and  amused  himself  by  hunting  and  1765. 
fishing.  On  his  return  home  on  a  certain  evening  he  found 
his  wife  and  children  murdered,  and  his  cabin  in  ashes. 
From  that  hour  he  devoted  his  life  to  defend  the  frontiers, 
and  to  avenge  himself  upon  the  destroyers  of  his  worldly 
happiness.  He  offered  his  services  and  those  of  his  band 
to  act  as  scouts,  and  seek  the  Indians  in  their  lurking- 
places.  Braddock  received  him  very  coldly,  and  declined 
the  offer,  saying  that  he  "had  experienced  troops  upon 
whom  he  could  rely  for  all  purposes." 

Even  the  advance  division  moved  very  slowly,  not 
more  than  three  or  four  miles  a  day.  Says  Washington 
in  a  letter,  "  Instead  of  pushing  on  with  vigor,  without 
regarding  a  little  rough  road,  they  halt  to  level  every 
mole-hill  and  to  erect  a  bridge  over  every  brook."  A 
month's  slow  march  through  the  woods  brought  the  army 
to  the  east  bank  of  the  Monongahela,  about  fifteen  miles 
above  Fort  Du  Quesne.  Only  the  very  day  before  the  pro- 
posed attack  on  that  fort,  Washington,  who  had  been 
detained  by  a  fit  of  sickness,  was  able  to  join  them.  As  JulyC 
the  hills  came  down  to  the  water's  edge,  it  was  necessary 
to  cross  the  river  directly  opposite  to  the  camp,  and  five 
miles  below,  at  another  ford,  recross  to  the  east  side. 
Colonel  Gage — he,  who,  twenty  years  afterward,  com- 
manded a  British  army  in  Boston — crossed  before  daylight, 
and  with  his  detachment  moved  rapidly  to  the  second 
ford  ;  then  recrossing,  took  position  to  protect  the  passage 
of  the  main  force.  Washington  ventured  once  more  to 
suggest  that  the  Virginia  Rangers,  consisting  of  three  hun- 
dred men,  should  be  thrown  in  advance.  This  proposition 
received  an  angry  reply  from  Braddock,  and,  as  if  to  make 
the  rebuke  more  conspicuous,  the  Virginians  and  other 
provincials  were  placed  as  a  rear-guard.  At  sunrise  the 
remainder  of  the  army  was  in  motion.     Their  equipments 


282  HISTORY   OF  THE   AMERICAN  PEOPLE. 

chap,   were  in  the  most  perfect  order  ;  their  muskets  were  bur- 

nished,  and  charged  with  fresh  cartridges,  and  in  high 

1755.    spirits  they  moved  along,  with  bayonets  fixed,  colors  flying, 
and  drums  beating. 

About  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  after  recrossing  the 
river,  as  the  army  was  moving  along  a  narrow  road,  not 
more  than  twelve  feet  wide,  with  scarcely  a  scout  in  front 
or  on  the  flanks,  the  engineer,  who  was  marking  the  way, 
suddenly  cried  out  "  French  and  Indians."  Scarcely  was 
the  alarm  given,  before  rapid  firing  was  heard  in  front, 
accompanied  by  most  terrific  yells.  The  army  was  in  a 
broad  ravine,  covered  with  low  shrubs,  with  moderately 
rising  ground  in  front  and  on  both  sides.  On  this  eleva- 
tion among  the  trees  were  the  French  and  Indians,  invisi- 
ble to  the  English,  but  from  their  hiding-places  able  to  see 
every  movement  of  the  soldiers  in  the  ravine,  and  to  take 
deliberate  aim.  The  regulars  were  thrown  into  confusion  ; 
the  sight  of  their  companions  shot  down  beside  them  by 
an  invisible  enemy,  together  with  the  unearthly  yells  of 
the  savages,  sent  a  thrill  of  horror  through  their  souls. 
They  were  ordered  to  charge  bayonet  up  the  hill,  but  no 
orders  could  induce  them  to  leave  the  line.  The  enemy 
had  been  sent  to  occupy  this  very  position,  but  had  arrived 
too  late  ;  now  they  were  spreading  all  along  both  sides  of 
the  ravine.  The  English  soldiers  lost  all  control,  and  fired 
at  random  into  the  woods,  wherever  they  saw  the  smoke 
of  an  enemy's  gun.  The  advance  party  fell  back  upon 
the  second  division,  and  threw  it  into  still  greater  confu- 
sion. At  this  moment  Colonel  Burton  came  up  with  a 
reinforcement,  eight  hundred  strong,  but  just  as  they  had 
formed  to  face  the  enemy,  down  upon  them  rushed  the 
two  foremost  divisions  pell-mell  \  all  were  crowded  to- 
gether in  inextricable  confusion,  and  their  officers  were 
nearly  all  slain  or  wounded.  Now  came  Braddock  him- 
self   He  ordered  the  colors  to  advance,  and  the  respective 


THE   BATTLE.  283 

regiments  to  separate  and  form  in  ranks — but  in  vain.   No   <&£* 
orders  were  obeyed.  

In  a  few  minutes  after  the  battle  commenced  the  Vir-  1755 
ginia  Hangers  were  behind  trees,  and  rapidly  picking  off 
the  Indians  ;  but  unfortunately  many  of  these  brave  men 
fell  victims  to  the  random  shots  of  the  regulars.  Wash- 
ington entreated  Braddock  to  permit  his  soldiers  to  pro- 
tect themselves,  as  the  Virginians  had  done  ;  but  he 
refused,  and  still  persisted  in  striving  to  form  them  into 
platoons,  and  when  any  sheltered  themselves  behind  trees, 
he  called  them  cowards  and  struck  them  with  the  flat  of 
his  sword.  Thus,  through  his  obstinacy,  these  unfortu- 
nate  men  became  targets  for  the  enemy.  The  officers  ex- 
hibited the  greatest  bravery,  and  many  of  them  fell,  as 
they  were  the  special  objects  of  the  sharpshooters.  Two 
of  the  aids,  Morris  and  Grme,  were  severely  wounded, 
and  their  duties  devolved  upon  Washington.  His  expo- 
sure was  great,  as  he  passed  often  from  one  part  of  the 
field  to  another  ;  yet  he  gave  his  orders  with  calmness 
and  judgment.  When  sent  to  bring  up  the  artillery,  he 
found  the  Indians  surrounding  it,  Sir  Peter  Halket,  the 
commander,  killed,  and  the  men  paralyzed  with  fear.  He 
enc  ruraged  them,  leaped  from  his  horse,  pointed  a  field- 
pie  ie  and  discharged  it.  It  was  useless  ;  the  men  deserted 
thf,  guns.  For  three  hours  the  desperate  fight  lasted. 
During  this  time  Braddock  was  in  the  centre  of  the  con- 
flict, trying,  in  his  way,  to  regain  the  field.  His  officers 
nad  nearly  all  fallen,  and  his  slain  soldiers  covered  the 
ground  ;  still  he  would  not  permit  the  remainder  to  adopt 
the  Indian  mode  of  fighting. 

Five  horses  were  shot  under  him,  and  finally  he  him- 
self was  mortally  wounded.  As  he  was  falling  from  his 
horse  Captain  Stewart,  of  the  Virginia  Guards,  caught 
him  in  his  arms.  As  they  bore  him  out  of  danger,  he 
begged  to  be  left  to  die  upon  the  field  of  his  misfortune. 
All  was  now  abandoned.     The  fall  of  the  general  saved 


284  HISTORY  OF  THE   AMERICAN  PEOPLE. 

chap,  fche  army  from  entire  destruction.     The  soldiers  were  now 

V  at  liberty  to  save  themselves  as  best  they  could.     "  The 

1760.  regulars  fled  like  sheep  before  hounds."  The  Virginia 
Rangers  threw  themselves  in  the  rear,  and  for  some  time 
held  the  enemy  in  check.  The  wagoners  mounted  their 
team-horses  and  fled  ;  all  hurried  to  the  ford,  fiercely  pur- 
sued by  the  Indians.  The  love  of  plunder  restrained  the 
pursuers,  and  after  the  fugitives  had  recrossed  the  river 
they  were  not  molested. 

Washington  rode  all  that  night  and  the  next  day  to 
Dunbar's  camp  to  obtain  wagons  to  transport  the  wounded, 
and  soldiers  to  guard  them.  When  he  had  obtained  these 
he  hastened  back  to  meet  the  fugitives. 

Braddock  was  still  able  to  issue  orders,  and  seems  to 
have  had  a  faint  hope  that  he  might  hold  out  till  he 
could  receive  reinforcements.  He  was  carried  by  the  sol- 
diers, being  unable  to  mount  a  horse ; — at  length,  the 
fugitives  arrived  at  Fort  Necessity.  The  wounded  gen- 
eral appeared  to  be  heart-broken.  He  scarcely  spoke  ;  as 
if  reflecting  on  his  past  confidence  in  his  troops,  he  would 
occasionally  ejaculate,  "  Who  would  have  thought  it  ?  * 
Tradition  tells  of  his  softened  feelings  toward  those  whom 
he  had  treated  harshly  ;  of  his  gratitude  to  Captain  Stew- 
art for  his  care  and  kindness  ;  of  his  apology  to  Washing- 
ton for  the  manner  in  which  he  had  received  his  advice. 
On  the  night  of  the  thirteenth  of  July  he  died.  The  next 
morning,  before  the  break  of  day,  he  was  buried  as  secretly 
as  possible,  lest  the  Indians,  who  were  hovering  around, 
should  find  his  grave  and  violate  it.  The  chaplain  was 
among  the  wounded,  and  Washington  read  the  funeral 
service.  Near  the  national  road,  a  mile  west  of  Fort 
Necessity,  may  be  seen  a  rude  pile  of  stones — the  work 
of  some  friendly  hand, — it  marks  the  grave  of  Braddock. 
"  His  dauntless  conduct  on  the  field  of  battle  shows  him 
to  have  been  a  man  of  spirit.  His  melancholy  end,  too, 
disarms  censure  of  its  asperity.    Whatever  may  have  been 


THE  FRONTIERS  LEFT  EXPOSED.  285 

his  faults  and  errors,  he,  in  a  manner  expiated  them  by  CTUJP 

the  hardest  lot  that  can  befall  a  brave  soldier  ambitious  , 

of  renown, — an   unhonored   grave   in  a  strange  land,  a    1755. 
memory  clouded  by  misfortune,  and  a  name  ever  coupled 
with  defeat." ' 

The  frightened  Dunbar,  though  he  had  under  his  com- 
mand fifteen  hundred  effective  men, — enough,  if  properly 
led,  to  have  regained  the  field, — broke  up  his  camp,  de- 
stroyed his  stores,  and  retreated  with  all  speed  ;  only  when 
he  had  arrived  safely  in  Philadelphia  did  he  breathe  freely. 
His  failure  of  duty  left  the  frontiers  exposed  to  the  inroads 
of  the  savages. 

Of  eighty-six  officers,  twenty-six  had  perished,  and 
thirty-six  were  wounded.  Among  the  latter  was  Captain 
Horatio  Gates,  who,  twenty-five  years  later,  was  conspicu- 
ous as  a  major-general  in  t  the  struggle  for  independence. 
Of  the  soldiers,  more  than  seven  hundred  were  either 
killed  or  wounded.  The  gallant  Virginia  Kangers  had 
perished  in  great  numbers,  for  upon  them  had  fallen  the 
brunt  of  the  battle.  When  it  became  known  that  there 
were  only  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  French,  and  about 
six  hundred  and  fifty  Indians  in  the  battle,  the  disgrace 
was  deeply  felt,  that  this  handful  of  men,  sent  merely  to 
hold  the  English  in  check,  should  have  defeated  a  well- 
equipped  and  disciplined  army  of  nearly  twice  their  own 
number. 

The  religious  sentiments  of  the  colonists  Were  greatly 
shocked  at  the  profanity,  Sabbath-breaking,  and  almost 
every  form  of  vice  and  wickedness  common  in  this  boastful 
army.  So  certain  were  the  expectations  of  victory,  that 
preparations  were  made  to  celebrate  it. 

It  is  proper  to  notice  the  effect  of  these  events  upon  the 
minds  of  the  colonists.  With  them  the  name  of  the  Brit- 
ish regulars  had  lost  its  prestige — they  were  not  invincible. 

1  Washington  Trying. 


286  HISTORY   OF  THE    AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

chap.   In  addition,  the  haughtiness  of  the  British  officers  had 

inflicted  wounds  destined  never  to  be  healed.     The  atten- 

1755.  tion  of  the  people  was  directed  especially  to  Washington. 
In  a  letter  to  his  brother  Augustine  he  says  :  "By  the 
all-powerful  dispensation  of  Providence,  I  have  been  pro- 
tested beyond  all  human  probability  or  expectation  ;  for 
I  had  four  bullets  through  my  coat,  two  horses  shot  under 
me,  yet  escaped  unhurt,  though  death  was  levelling  my 
companions  on  every  side  around  me." 

The  wonderful  manner  in  which  he  had  been  preserved 
in  that  day  of  peril,  excited  universal  attention.  No 
doubt  the  Kev.  Samuel  Davies,  one  of  the  most  celebrated 
clergymen  of  the  day,  expressed  the  common  sentiment, 
when,  in  a  sermon  preached  soon  after  Braddock's  defeat, 
he  referred  to  him  as  "  that  heroic  youth,  Colonel  Wash- 
ington, whom  I  cannot  but  hope  Providence  has  hitherto 
preserved  in  so  signal  a  manner  for  some  important  ser- 
vice to  his  country"  Washington  was  never  wounded  in 
battle  ;  he  was  shielded  by  the  same  protecting  hand. 


• 


CHAPTER     XXII. 

FRENCH  AND  INDIAN  WAR— CONTINUED. 

Die  French  Acadiens ;  their  simple  Manners,  Industry,  and  good  Moi  da.-— 
Expulsion  from  their  Homes,  and  mournful  Exile. — Expedition  against 
Crown  Point. — Baron  Dieskau. — English  defeated. — Death  of  Colonel 
Williams. — Attack  on  Johnson's  Camp  repulsed. — Death  of  Dieskau. — 
Williams  College. — Indian  Ravages  on  the  Frontiers  of  Virginia  and 
Pennsylvania. — Kittanning  destroyed. — Lord  Loudon  Commander-in- 
chief. — His  tardiness  and  arbitrary  Measures. — Montcalm  acts  with 
Energy ;  captures  Fort  Ontario,  then  Fort  William  Henry. — Exhausted 
condition  of  Canada. 

In  the  mean  time  other  expeditions  were   undertaken    jjjffi 

against   the   French.      For  this  purpose   Massachusetts  

alone  raised  eight  thousand  soldiers,  almost  one-fifth  part  1755. 
of  her  able-bodied  men.  A  portion  of  Acadie  or  Nova 
Scotia  was  still  in  the  hands  of  the  French.  It  consisted 
of  the  isthmus  on  the  northern  part,  which  was  defended 
by  two  insignificant  forts.  For  forty  years,  since  the  peace 
of  Utrecht,  the  peninsula  had  been  under  British  rule, 
and  now  the  whole  territory  was  completely  subdued. 
These  forts,  with  scarcely  any  resistance,  fell  into  the  Tnni 
hands  of  the  English.  Sixteen  years  before  the  Pilgrims  1C* 
landed  at  Plymouth  this  French  colony  was  established 
on  the  Peninsula  of  Acadie.  It  was  the  oldest  perma- 
nent French  settlement  in  North  America.  For  one 
hundred  and  fifty  years  the  Acadiens  had  been  gradually 
clearing  and  improving  their  lands,  and  enjoying  the  com- 
forts of  rural  life.  At  first  their  chief  source?  of  wealth 
had  been  the  fisheries  and  the  fur-trade ;  but  these  had 


288  HISTORY   OF  THE   AMERICA^  PEOPLE. 

cg^P-  gradually  given  way  to  agriculture.     Their  social  inter- 

course  was  governed  by  a  high  tone  of  morals.     Theii 

1755.  differences,  but  few  in  number,  were  settled  by  the  arbi- 
tration of  their  old  men.  Seldom  did  they  go  with  com- 
plaints to  their  English  rulers.  Early  marriages  were 
encouraged,  and  when  a  young  man  came  of  age,  his 
neighbors  built  him  a  house,  and  aided  him  for  one  year, 
and  the  wife's  friends  aided  her  with  gifts.  Their  fields 
were  fertile,  and  industry  made  them  productive.  Their 
meadows,  which  now  were  covered  with  flocks  of  sheep 
and  herds  of  cattle,  they  had,  by  means  of  dikes,  redeemed 
from  the  great  flow  of  the  tide.  Their  little  cottages  dot- 
ted the  landscape.  In  their  domestic  industry  each  family 
provided  for  its  own  wants,  and  clothed  its  members  with 
cloth  and  linen  made  from  the  wool  of  their  flocks,  or  from 
the  flax  of  their  fields. 

As  Catholics,  they  were  happy  in  the  exercise  of  their 
religion  ;  though  they  belonged  to  the  diocese  of  Quebec, 
they  were  not  brought  into  close  relation  with  the  people 
of  Canada.  They  knew  but  little  of  what  was  passing 
beyond  the  limits  of  their  own  neighborhood.  Independ- 
ent of  the  world,  they  had  its  comforts,  but  not  its  luxu- 
ries. They  now  numbered  about  seventeen  thousand 
inhabitants,  and  up  to  this  time  their  English  rulers  had 
left  them  undisturbed  in  their  seclusion. 

A  dark  cloud  was  hanging  over  this  scene  of  rural 
simplicity  and  comfort.  As  they  were  excused  from  bear- 
ing arms  against  France  by  the  terms  of  their  surrender, 
the  Acadiens  were  known  as  "  French  neutrals  ;"  neither 
had  they  been  required  to  take  the  usual  oaths  of  allegi- 
ance ;  they  had  promised  submission  to  English  au- 
thority, to  be  neutral  in  times  of  war  with  France,  and  it 
was  understood  they  were '  to  enjoy  their  religion.  This 
oath  was  one  which,  as  good  Frenchmen  and  good  Catho- 
lics, they  could  not  take  ;  it  required  them  to  bear  armi 
against  their  own  brethren  in  Canada,  and  it  might  in- 


THE   OATHS   OF   ALLEGIANCE.  289 

rolve  the  interests  of   their  religion.     "  Better/'  urged  Q]^' 

the  priests,  "surrender  your  meadows  to  the   sea,  and  

your  houses  to  the  flames,  than  at  the  peril  of  your  souls  1755. 
take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  British  government." 
But  it  was  now  to  he  exacted.  "  They  possess  the  best 
and  largest  tract  of  land  in  this  province/'  writes  Law- 
rence, Lieutenant-governor  of  Nova  Scotia,  to  Lord  Hali- 
fax ;  "  if  they  refuse  the  oaths,  it  would  be  much  better 
that  they  were  away."  This  "largest  and  best  tract" 
seems  to  have  been  coveted  by  their  English  rulers  ;  they 
undoubtedly  were  suspicious  of  the  Acadiens  as  Catholics, 
and  it  is  true  some  of  their  more  ardent  young  men  be- 
longed, as  volunteers,  to  the  garrisons  of  the  recently 
captured  forts  ;  but  as  this  simple-minded  people  had 
neither  the  will  nor  the  power  to  aid  the  enemies  of  Eng- 
land, we  cannot  suppose  that  this  suspicion  alone  induced 
the  British  to  visit  upon  them  a  severity  so  unparalleled. 
The  question  of  allegiance  was,  however,  to  be  pressed  to 
the  utmost ;  if  they  refused  to  take  the  oath,  the  titles  to 
their  lands  were  to  be  null  and  void.  The  haughty  con- 
duct of  the  British  officers  sent  to  enforce  these  orders 
was  to  them  a  harbinger  of  sorrow.  Their  property  was 
wantonly  taken  for  the  public  service,  and  "  they  not  to 
be  bargained  with  for  payment ; "  if  they  did  not  bring 
wood  at  the  proper  time,  "  the  soldiers  might  take  their 
houses  for  fuel."  Their  guns  were  taken,  and  their  boats 
seized,  under  the  pretence  that  they  intended  to  carry 
provisions  to  the  French.  The  English  insisted  upon 
treating  this  people,  so  faithful  to  their  country  and  their 
religion,  as  lawless  rebels.  Wearied  by  these  oppressions, 
their  deputies  promised  allegiance  ;  they  declared  that 
their  consciences  would  not  permit  them  to  rebel  against 
their  rulers,  and  they  humbly  asked  that  their  arms  and 
boats  might  be  restored.  "  The  memorial  is  highly  arro- 
gant, insidious,  and  insulting,"  said  the  haughty  Law- 
rence ;  "  guns  do  not  belong  to  you  by  law,  for  you  are 


290  HISTORY  OF  THE    AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

chap.   Boman  Catholics."     After  consultation  with  the  people, 

the  deputies  offered  to  swear  unconditionally.     Then  they 

1755.    were  told,  as  they  had  once  refused,  now  they  should  not 
be  permitted  to  swear. 

A  calamity,  as  unexpected  as  it  was  dreadful,  was  at 
hand.  By  proclamation,  "  the  old  men,  and  young  men, 
as  well  as  all  lads  over  ten  years  of  age,"  were  called  upon 
to  assemble,  on  a  certain  day,  the  fifth  of  September,  at 
certain  posts  in  their  respective  districts,  to  hear  the 
Sept.  "  wishes  of  the  king."  The  call  was  obeyed.  At  Grand 
Pre  alone  more  than  four  hundred  unsuspecting  and  un- 
armed men  and  boys  came  together.  They  were  gathered 
into  the  church,  its  doors  were  closed,  and  Winslow,  the 
commander,  announced  to  them  the  decision  of  the  Brit- 
ish government.  They  were  to  be  banished  forever  from 
their  native  province  ;  from  the  fields  they  had  cultivated, 
from  the  pleasant  homes  where  they  had  spent  their 
youth.  They  might  not  emigrate  to  lands  offered  them 
among  friends  in  Canada,  lest  they  should  add  strength 
to  the  French.  They  were  to  be  driven  forth  as  beggars 
among  their  enemies,  a  people  of  a  strange  language  and 
of  a  different  religion.  They  were  retained  as  prisoners, 
till  the  ships  which  were  to  bear  them  away  were  ready. 
As  soon  as  possible,  their  wives  and  little  children  were 
also  seized.  On  the  day  of  embarkation,  the  young  men 
and  boys  were  first  ordered  on  board  the  ship  ;  as  their 
parents  and  friends  were  not  allowed  to  go  with  them, 
they  refused,  fearing  that  if  thus  separated,  they  might 
never  meet  again — a  thought  they  could  not  bear.  But 
resistance  and  entreaties  were  useless  ;  driven  by  the  bay- 
onet, they  were  marched  from  the  church  to  the  ship, 
which  was  a  mile  distant ;  their  way  was  lined  with  weep- 
ing friends,  mothers,  and  sisters,  who  prayed  for  blessings 
on  their  heads,  and  they  themselves  wept  and  prayed  and 
mournfully  chanted  psalms  as  they  passed  along.  Then 
in  the  same  manner  the  fathers  were  driven  on  board 


THE    SORROWS   OF    THE   EXILES. 


291 


another  ship.     The  wives  and  children  were  left  hehind  ;  (5£? 

these  were  kept  for  weeks  near  the  sea  without  proper  

shelter  or  food,  shivering  in  December's  cold,  till  ships    1755. 
could  come  to  take  them  away.    "  The  soldiers  hate  them, 
and  if  they  can  but  find  a  pretext  will  kill  them."     Thus 
wrote  an  English  officer  who  was  engaged  in  this  work  of 
cruelty. 

In  some  places  the  object  of  the  proclamation  was 
suspected,  and  the  men  and  youth  did  not  assemble.  In 
the  vicinity  of  Annapolis  some  fled  to  the  woods,  with 
their  wives  and  children,  some  went  to  Canada,  while 
others  threw  themselves  upon  the  hospitality  of  the  In- 
dians, from  whom  they  received  a  hearty  welcome.  That 
these  poor  people,  who  had  fled  to  the  woods,  might  be 
compelled  by  starvation  and  exposure  to  give  themselves 
up,  orders  were  issued  to  lay  waste  their  homes,  and  the 
whole  country  was  made  a  desolation,  from  the  village 
and  its  church,  to  the  peasant's  cottage  and  barn.  "  For 
successive  evenings  the  cattle  assembled  round  the  smoul- 
dering ruins,  as  if  in  anxious  expectation  of  the  return  of 
their  masters  ;  while  all  night  long  the  faithful  watch- 
dogs howled  over  the  scene  of  desolation,  and  mourned 
alike  the  hand  that  had  fed,  and  the  house  that  had  shel- 
tered them." ' 

Seven  thousand  of  these  poor  people  were  transported 
and  cast  helpless  on  the  shores  of  the  English  colonies, 
from  New  Hampshire  to  Georgia.  Families  were  separated 
never  to  meet  again.  From  time  to  time,  for  many  years 
afterward,  advertisements  in  the  newspapers  of  the  colo- 
nies told  the  tale  of  sorrow.  Now  they  inquired  for  a  lost 
wife  or  husband,  now  brothers  and  sisters  inquired  for 
each  other;  parents  for  their  children,  and  children  foi 
their  parents.  When  any  in  after  years  attempted  to  re- 
turn they  were  driven  off.    Some  of  those  taken  to  Georgia 

1  Haliburton's  History  of  Nova  Scotia. 


292  HISTORY   OF  THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

chap,  could  endure  their  banishment  no  longer.     They  obtained 

1  boats,  and  coasted  along  the  shore  toward  home  ;  but, 

1755.  alas  !  when  almost  at  the  end  of  their  perilous  voyage, 
they  were  ordered  away.  Some  wandered  to  Louisiana, 
where  lands  on  the  river  above  New  Orleans,  still  known 
as  the  Acadien  coast,  were  assigned  them. 

This  work  of  wanton  cruelty  was  done  by  men,  who  un- 
blushingly  congratulated  the  approving  king  that  the  work 
of  desolation  had  been  so  effectively  accomplished — a  work, 
which,  for  its  treachery  and  cowardly  cruelty,  deserves  the 
reprobation  of  every  human  breast.  "  I  know  not  that  the 
annals  of  the  human  race  keep  the  record  of  sorrows  so 
wantonly  inflicted,  so  bitter  and  so  perennial,  as  fell  upon 
the  French  inhabitants  of  Acadie.  The  hand  of  the  Eng- 
lish official  seemed  under  a  spell  with  regard  to  them, 
and  was  never  uplifted  but  to  curse  them."  l 

The  expedition  against  Crown  Point,  on  Lake  Cham- 
plain,  had  been  intrusted  to  General  William  Johnson. 
His  troops  were  drawn  principally  from  Massachusetts  and 
Connecticut ;  a  regiment  from  New  Hampshire  joined 
them  at  Albany.  At  the  head  of  boat  navigation  on  the 
Hudson,  a  fort  was  built  which,  in  honor  of  their  com- 
mander, whom  they  reverenced  as  "  a  brave  and  virtuous 
man,"  the  soldiers  named  Fort  Lyman.  But  when  John- 
son assumed  the  command  he  ungenerously  changed  the 
name  to  Fort  Edward.  Leaving  a  garrison  in  this  fort, 
Johnson  moved  with  about  irve  thousand  men  to  the  head 
of  Lake  George,  and  there  formed  a  camp,  intending  to 
descend  into  Lake  Champlain.  Hendrick,  the  celebrated 
Mohawk  chief,  with  his  warriors,  were  among  these  troops. 
Israel  Putnam,  too,  was  there,  as  a  captain,  and  John 
Stark  as  a  lieutenant,  each*  taking  lessons  in  warfare. 

The  French  were  not  idle ;  the  district  of  Montreal 
made  the  most  strenuous  exertions  to  meet  the  invading  foe. 

1  Bancroft. 


THE    ENGLISH    FALL   INTO    AN   AMBUSCADE.  293 

All  the  men  who  were  able  to  bear  arms  were  called  into   chap. 

active  service  ;  so  that  to  gather  in  the  harvest,  their  1 

places  were  supplied  by  men  from  other  districts.  The  1755. 
energetic  Baron  Dieskau  resolved,  by  a  bold  attack,  to 
terrify  the  invaders.  Taking  with  him  two  hundred  reg- 
ulars, and  about  twelve  hundred  Canadians  and  Indians, 
he  set  out  to  capture  Fort  Edward  ;  but  as  he  drew  near, 
the  Indians  heard  that  it  was  defended  by  cannon,  which 
they  greatly  dreaded,  and  they  refused  to  advance.  He 
now  changed  his  plan,  and  resolved  to  attack  Johnson's 
camp,  which  was  supposed  to  be  without  cannon. 

Meantime  scouts  had  reported  to  Johnson,  that  they 
had  seen  roads  made  through  the  woods  in  the  direction 
of  Fort  Edward.  Not  knowing  the  movements  of  Dieskau, 
a  detachment  of  a  thousand  men,  under  Colonel  Ephraim 
Williams,  of  Massachusetts,  and  two  hundred  Mohawks, 
under  Hendrick,  marched  to  relieve  that  post.  The 
French  had  information  of  their  approach,  and  placed 
themselves  in  ambush.  They  were  concealed  among  the 
thick  bushes  of  a  swamp,  on  the  one  side,  and  rocks  and 
trees  on  the  other.  The  English  recklessly  marched  into 
the  defile.  They  were  vigorously  attacked,  and  thrown  Sept 
into  confusion.  Hendrick  was  almost  instantly  killed,  and  6* 
in  a  short  time  Williams  fell  also.  The  detachment  com- 
menced to  retreat,  occasionally  halting  to  check  their  pur- 
suers. The  firing  was  heard  in  the  camp ;  as  the  sound 
drew  nearer  and  nearer,  it  was  evident  the  detachment 
was  retreating.  The  drums  beat  to  arms,  trees  were 
hastily  felled  and  thrown  together  to  form  a  breastwork, 
upon  which  were  placed  a  few  cannon,  just  arrived  from 
the  Hudson.  Scarcely  were  these  preparations  made, 
when  the  panting  fugitives  aprpeared  in  sight,  hotly  pur- 
sued by  the  French  and  Indians.  Intending  to  enter  the 
camp  with  the  fugitives,  Dieskau  urged  forward  his  men 
with  the  greatest  impetuosity.  The  moment  the  fugitives 
were  past  the  muzzles  of  the  cannon,  they  opened  with 


294  HISTOET   OF  THE   AMEBICAK   PEOPLE. 

CHAP,   a  tremendous  shower  of  grape,  which  scattered  the  terrified 

1  Indians  and  checked  the   Canadians,  but   the   regulars 

1755.  pushed  on.  A  determined  contest  ensued,  which  lasted  five 
hours,  until  the  regulars  were  nearly  all  slain,  while  the 
Indians  and  Canadians  did  but  little  execution  ;  they  re- 
mained at  a  respectful  distance  among  the  trees.  At 
length  the  enemy  began  to  retreat,  and  the  Americans 
leaped  over  the  breastwork  and  pursued  them  with  great 
vigor.  That  same  evening,  after  the  pursuit  had  ceased, 
as  the  French  were  retreating,  they  were  suddenly  attack- 
ed with  great  spirit  by  the  New  Hampshire  regiment, 
which  was  on  its  way  from  Fort  Edward.  They  were  so 
panic-stricken  by  this  new  assault,  that  they  abandoned 
every  thing,  and  fled  for  their  lives. 

Dieskau  had  been  wounded  once  or  twice  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  battle,  but  he  never  left  his  post ;  two 
of  his  soldiers  generously  attempted  to  carry  him  out  of 
danger,  but  when  in  the  act  one  of  them  received  his  death 
wound  ;  he  urged  the  other  to  flee.  In  the  midst  of  flying 
bullets  he  calmly  seated  himself  on  the  stump  of  a  neigh- 
boring tree.  He  was  taken  prisoner,  kindly  treated,  and 
sent  to  England,  where  he  died. 

Johnson  was  slightly  wounded  at  the  commencement 
of  the  battle,  and  prudently  retired  from  danger.  To 
General  Lyman  belongs  the  honor  of  the  victory,  yet  John- 
son, in  his  report  of  the  battle,  did  not  even  mention  his 
name.  Johnson,  for  his  exertions  on  that  day,  was  made 
a  baronet,  and  received  from  royal  favor  a  gift  of  twenty- 
five  thousand  dollars.  He  had  friends  at  court,  but  Lyman 
was  unknown. 

Colonel  Epjiraim  Williams,  who  fell  in  this  battle, 
while  passing  through  Albany  had  taken  the  precaution 
to  make  his  will,  in  which  he  bequeathed  property  to 
found  a  free  school  in  western  Massachusetts.  That  school 
has  since  grown  into  Williams  College — a  monument 


INDIAN   VILLAGE   OF    KITTANNING   DESTROYED.  295 

more  honorable  than   one  of  granite,  one  fraught  with  £§£? 

blessings  to  future  generations.  

Johnson,  instead  of  pushing  on  to  take  advantage  of  the   1756 
victory,  loitered  in  his  camp,  and  finally  built  and  garrison- 
ed a  useless  wooden  fort,  which  he  named  William  Henry. 

As  has  been  mentioned,  the  retreat  of  Dunbar  left  the 
frontiers  of  Virginia  and  Pennsylvania  subject  to  the  hor- 
rors of  savage  warfare.  Washington  was  intrusted  with 
their  defence,  but  so  few  men  had  he  at  his  command, 
and  they  so  scattered,  as  to  afford  but  little  protection. 
The  distant  settlers  of  Virginia  were  driven  in,  and  the 
beautiful  valley  of  the  Shenandoah  became  almost  a  deso- 
lation. Governor  Dinwiddie,  as  an  apology  for  not  furnish- 
ing more  soldiers,  wrote  :  "  We  dare  not  part  with  any 
of  our  white  men  to  any  distance,  as  we  must  have  a 
watchful  eye  over  our  negro  slaves."  In  one  of  his  letters, 
Washington  says :  "  The  supplicating  tears  of  women 
and  moving  petitions  of  the  men,  melt  me  into  such 
deadly  sorrow,  that  for  the  people's  ease,  I  could  offer 
myself  a  willing  sacrifice  to  the  treacherous  enemy .* 

The  village  of  Kittanning,  twenty  or  thirty  miles  up 
the  Alleghany,  above  Fort  Du  Quesne,  was  the  head-quar- 
ters of  a  notable  Indian  chief,  known  as  Captain  Jacobs. 
Incited  by  the  French,  he  and  his  bands  made  many  mur- 
derous incursions  against  the  settlements  of  Pennsylvania. 
His  associate  was  the  Delaware  chief  Shingis.  Benjamin 
Franklin,  who  had  been  appointed  colonel  by  the  governor, 
had  organized  the  Pennsylvania  militia  to  protect  the 
frontiers,  and  after  his  resignation,  Colonel  John  Arm- 
strong, afterward  a  major-general  in  the  Revolutionary 
war,  was  chosen  in  his  place.  He  resolved  to  destroy  these 
Indians  and  their  village.  Three  hundred  Pennsylvanians 
volunteered  for  the  enterprise.  In  the  latter  part  of  Sep- 
tember they  set  out  on  horseback,  across  the  mountains, 
and  in  a  few  days  came  into  the  vicinity  of  Kittanning,  at 


296  HISTOKY   OF  THE   AMEKICAN   PEOPLE. 

chap,   night.     They  heard  the  savages  carousing  and  yelling , 

they  left  their  horses,  approached  the  village,  and  arranged 

1756,  the  order  of  attack.  The  night  was  warm,  the  Indians 
^P**  soon  began  to  separate,  some  to  sleep  in  the  corn-fields 
near  by,  and  some  in  wigwams.  As  day  began  to  dawn, 
the  Americans  surrounded  the  party,  and,  at  a  given  sig 
nal,  rushed  to  the  attack.  The  Indians  were  taken  by 
surprise,  but  soon  the  voice  of  Jacobs  was  heard  loud 
above  the  din,  cheering  on  his  warriors,  and  shouting, 
"  We  are  men,  we  will  not  be  prisoners."  The  wigwams 
were  set  on  fire,  and  warriors  were  heard  singing  their 
death-song  in  the  midst  of  the  flames.  Jacobs  attempted 
to  break  through  the  surrounding  foe,  but  his  career  was 
cut  short  by  a  rifle-ball.  This  nest  of  savage  murderers 
was  entirely  broken  up  ;  the  survivors  went  further  west, 
and  for  a  season  the  frontiers  had  peace. 

Lord  Loudon  was  appointed  a  sort  of  viceroy  of  all  the 
colonies.  He  sent  General  Abercrombie  as  his  lieutenant, 
having  suspended  Governor  Shirley,  and  ordered  him  to 
June,  repair  to  England.  Abercrombie  arrived  in  June,  and 
brought  with  him  several  British  regiments.  It  was  con- 
fidently expected  that  something  important  would  now  be 
done.  These  royal  gentlemen  had  an  army  of  seven  thou- 
sand men  at  Albany,  but,  as  the  Frenchmen  had  said, 
they  were  "slow  and  dilatory," — they  spent  the  summer 
in  adjusting  the  rank  of  the  officers.  The  soldiers  of  the 
colonies,  though  they  had,  by  their  indomitable  courage, 
saved  the  remnant  of  the  British  army  on  the  banks  of 
the  Monongahela  though,  at  Lake  George,  they  had 
driven  the  enem>  before  them,  and  had  defended  their 
soil  and  maintained  the  honor  of  the  English  name,  yet 
they  were  not  permitted  to  elect  their  own  officers,  and  if 
they  were  appointed  by  the  colonial  governors,  those  of 
the  same  rank  by  royal  appointment  took  the  precedence. 
These  were  the  petty  annoyances  dictated  by  little  minds, 
that  aided  so  much  in  alienating  the  colonists  from  the 


FOBTS   ONTARIO    AND   WILLIAM    HENRY   CAPTURED.  29? 

mother  country,  and  in  the  end  leading  them  to  independ    chap 
ence.  __ 

While  the  English  were  thus  trifling,  Montcalm,  the  1756. 
successor  of  Dieskau,  was  acting.  With  five  thousand 
Frenchmen,  Canadians,  and  Indians,  he  darted  across  the 
lake,  and  suddenly  presented  himself  at  the  gates  of  Fort 
Ontario,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Oswego.  He  met  with  a 
vigorous  resistance  ;  not  until  they  had  lost  all  hope  of 
receiving  aid,  and  their  brave  commander,  Colonel  Mercer, 
was  killed,  did  the  garrison  surrender.  An  immense  ^LUft 
amount  of  military  stores  fell  into  the  hands  of  Montcalm  ;  !*• 
he  sent  the  captured  flags  to  adorn  the  churches  of  Can- 
ada, and  to  please  the  Iroquois,  who  promised  neutrality, 
he  demolished  the  fort.  Though  it  was  known  that  this 
important  post  was  threatened,  yet  no  means  were 
taken  to  relieve  it.  Thus  Loudon  planned  and  counter- 
planned,  accomplished  nothing,  and  then  withdrew  from 
his  arduous  labors  into  winter-quarters.  He  demanded 
free  quarters  for  his  officers  of  the  citizens  of  Albany, 
New  York,  and  Philadelphia.  As  the  demand  was  "  con- 
trary to  the  laws  of  England  and  the  liberties  of  America," 
they  refused  to  accede  to  it.  He  threatened  to  bring  his 
soldiers  and  compel  them  to  submit  to  the  outrage.  The 
citizens,  in  their  weakness,  raised  subscriptions  to  support 
for  the  winter  those  who  had  wasted  the  resources  of  the 
country.  Thus  a  military  chief  invaded,  not  merely  the 
political  rights  of  the  people,  but  the  sanctities  of  their 
domestic  life. 

Montcalm  was  undisturbed  in  making  preparations  to 
capture  Fort  William  Henry,  before  which  he  appeared,  1757 
the  next  year,  with  a  large  French  and  Indian  force.  The 
garrison  numbered  about  three  thousand  men,  under 
Colonel  Monroe,  a  brave  officer,  who,  when  summoned  to 
surrender,  indignantly  refused,  and  immediately  sent  to 
General  Webbe,  at  Fort  Edward,  fifteen  miles  distant,  for 
aid.     He  could   have  relieved  Monroe,  for  he  had  four 


298  histoky  or  the  American  people. 

c^r    thousand  men  at  his  disposal,  but  when  Putnam  obtained 

_  permission  to  go  to  the  aid  of  the  fort,  and  had  proceeded 

1757.    some  miles  with  his  rangers,  Webbe  recalled  him.     Then 

he  sent  a  letter  to  Monroe  advising  him  to  surrender.    This 

letter  fell  into  the  hands  of  Montcalm,  who  was  on  the 

point  of  raising  the  siege,  but  he  now  sent  the  letter  to 

Monroe,  with  another  demand  to  surrender.     The  brave 

veteran  would  not  capitulate,  but  held  out  till  half  his 

guns  were  rendered  useless.     Montcalm  was  too  brave  and 

generous   not  to  appreciate  nobleness  in  others,  and  he 

granted  him  the  privilege  of  marching  out  with  the  honors 

AJg*    of  war.     The  only  pledge  he  asked,  was  that  the  soldiers 

should  not  engage  in  war  against  the  French  for  eighteen 

months.     They  were  to  retain  their  private  property,  and 

Canadian  and  Indian  prisoners  were  to  be  restored. 

Montcalm  held  a  council  of  the  Indians,  who  consented 
to  the  terms  of  the  treaty,  though  they  were  Badly  dis- 
appointed in  their  hopes  of  plunder.  He  refused  them 
rum,  and  thus  he  could  restrain  them ;  but,  unfor- 
tunately, the  night  after  the  surrender  they  obtained  it 
from  the  English.  In  the  morning  they  were  frantic  from 
the  effects  of  intoxication,  and  when  the  garrison  were 
leaving  their  camp,  they  fell  upon  the  stragglers.  The 
French  officers  did  all  they  could  to  restrain  them,  and 
some  were  even  wounded  in  their  exertions  to  save  the 
English  soldiers  from  savage  violence.  Montcalm,  in  his 
agony,  cried,  "  Kill  me,  but  spare  the  English  ;  they  are 
under  my  protection."  Instead  of  an  orderly  retreat  to 
Fort  Edward,  it  was  a  flight. 

Thus  the  French,  with  a  population  in  Canada,  not 
one-twentieth,  part  as  great  as  that  of  the  English  colo- 
nies, seemed  triumphant  everywhere.  Was  it  strange 
that  the  colonists  began  to  lose  their  respect  for  those  sent 
to  protect  them  from  their  enemies — especially  for  the 
officers  ?  They  believed  the  interference  of  the  home  gov- 
ernment hindered  the  advancement  of  their  cause,  while 


CANADA   EXHAUSTED.  299 

the  majority  of  the  royalist  governors  seemed  to  be  actu-   ^54?' 

ated  by  no  worthier  motive  than  that  of  promoting  their  1 

own  interests.  1757. 

Thongh  the  French  were  thus  victorious,  and  pos- 
sessed the  valleys  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Mississippi, 
and  apparently  all  the  continent,  except  a  little  strip 
along  the  Atlantic  coast,  yet  Canada  was  exhausted.  The 
struggle  was  virtually  over.  Her  men  had  been  drawn  to 
the  battle-field,  while  their  farms  were  left  untilled,  and 
now  famine  was  beginning  to  press  upon  the  people.  Their 
cattle  and  sheep  were  destroyed,  and  horse-flesh  was  made 
to  supply  the  place  of  beef ;  no  aid  could  come  from 
France,  as  nearly  all  intercourse  was  cut  off  by  the  ever- 
present  British  cruisers.  The  French  owed  their  success, 
not  to  their  own  strength,  but  to  the  imbecility  of  tha 
English  commanders. 


OHAPTEE   XXIII. 

FRENCH   AND    INDIAN  WAR,  CONTINUED. 

William  Pitt,  Prime  Minister. — Lord  Amherst,  Commander-in-chief. — Pka 
of  Operations. — Louisburg  captured. — Abercrombie  on  Lake  George ; 
Repulse  and  Retreat. — Bradstreet  captures  Fort  Frontenac. — Expedi- 
tion against  Fort  Du  Quesne. — Colonel  Grant. — Washington  takes  pos- 
session of  the  Fort ;  resigns  his  Commission. — Ticonderoga  abandoned ; 
the  French  retire  to  Canada. — Wolfe  appears  before  Quebec* — Exer- 
tions of  Montcalm. — The  British  on  the  Heights  of  Abraham. — The 
Battle. — Deaths  of  Wolfe  and  Montcalm ;  their  Memories. — Quebec  ca- 
pitulates.— The  Cherokee  War. — Destruction  of  their  Crops  and  Villa- 
ges ;  their  Revenge. — Pontiac ;  his  Character  and  Plans. — Desolations 
along  the  Frontiers. — General  Bouquet. — Pontiac's  Death. 

jxiif   The  people  of  England  were  not  indifferent  spectators  of 
■  these  failures  ;  they  noticed  the  feeble  manner  in  which 

1757.    the  war  was  conducted,  and  attributed  the  want  of  success 
to  the  inefficiency  of  those  in  command. 

Through  their  influence  William  Pitt,  one  of  them- 
selves, not  of  the  aristocracy,  was  called  to  the  head  of 
affairs.  He  appreciated  the  character  and  patriotism  of 
the  colonists.  Instead  of  devising  measures  that  would 
impoverish  them,  he,  at  once,  assumed  the  expenses  of  the 
war  ;  announced  that  the  money  they  had  already  spent 
for  that  purpose,  should  be  refunded,  and  that  for  the  fu- 
ture such  expenses  would  be  borne  by  the  home  govern- 
ment ;  also  arms  and  clothing  should  be  furnished  the 
soldiers  who  would  enlist.  This  act  of  justice  brought 
into  the  field  fifty  thousand  men — a  number  greater  th&n 
that  of  the  entire  male  population  of  Canada  at  that 
time. 


PLAN   OF   OPERATIONS.  301 

Lord  Jeffrey  Amherst  was  appointed  commander-in-    c&ap 

chief  of  the  British  army.     He  had  for  his  lieutenant  the  

young  and  talented    James  Wolfe,  who,  although  hut    1757. 
thirty-one  years  of  age,  had  spent  eighteen  of  those  years 
in  the  army,  where,  hy  his  nohle  hearing,  he  had  won  for 
himself  the  admiration  of  both  friends  and  foes. 

According  to  the  general  plan,  Amherst  himself  was 
to  head  the  expedition  against  Louisburg  and  Quebec  ; 
while  General  Forbes  was  to  capture  Fort  Du  Quesne  and 
take  possession  of  the  valley  of  the  Ohio,  and  Abercrombie 
to  take  Ticonderoga,  the  French  stronghold  on  Lake 
Champlain.  With  Abercrombie  was  associated  Lord 
Howe,  who  was  characterized  as  the  soul  of  the  enterprise.    June, 

On  the  8th  of  June,  Amherst  landed  with  his  forces     7 
near  the  city  of  Louisburg.     Under  the  cover  of  a  fire 
from  the  ships  Wolfe  led  the  first  division.     He  forbade  a 
gun  to  be  fired,  urged  on  the  rowers,  and  in  the  face  of 
the  enemy  leaped  into  the  water,  and  followed  by  his  men 
waded  to  the  shore.     The  French  deserted  their  outposts, 
and  retired  to  the  fortress  in  the  town.     After  a  bombard- 
ment of  fifty  days,  when  the  French  shipping  in  the  harbor 
was  destroyed,  and  all  hopes  of  receiving  assistance  at  an 
end,  the  fortress  surrendered.    At  the  same  time  were  given    j^, 
up  the  islands  of  Cape  Breton  and  Prince  Edward,  five     87. 
thousand  prisoners,  and  an  immense  amount  of  military 
stores. 

Abercrombie  and  Lord  Howe  advanced  against  Ticon- 
deroga. Their  army,  which  amounted  to  seven  thousand 
English  and  nine  thousand  Americans,  assembled  at  the 
head  of  Lake  G-eorge.  They  passed  in  flat-boats  down 
to  the  foot  of  the  lake,  where  they  disembarked  and  hur- 
ried on  toward  Ticonderoga ;  but  through  the  ignorance 
of  their  guide,  missed  their  way,  and  the  advance  fell  JtQ 
into  an  ambuscade  of  a  French  scouting  party.  The  ene-  6. 
my  was  soon  put  to  flight,  but  Lord  Howe  fell  at  the  head 


302  HISTOKY   OF   THE  AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

Ctt^   of  his  men.  His  death  threw  a  gloom  over  the  camp-  -the 

soldiers  had  confidence  in  no  other  leader.     Their  fore- 

1758.  bodings  were  soon  realized.  The  British  engineer  recon- 
noitred the  French  works,  and  reported  them  as  weak  ; 
but  Stark,  who  knew  their  strength,  affirmed  they  were 
strong  and  well  furnished.  Abercrombie  believed  his  en- 
gineer, and  without  waiting  for  his  artillery,  he  ordered  an 
attack.  His  soldiers  performed  prodigies  of  valor,  but 
were  forced  to  retire,  with  a  loss  of  two  thousand  of  their 
number.  In  this  battle  was  wounded  Charles  Lee,  then 
a  captain,  and  afterward  a  major-general  in  the  Kevolu- 
tionary  army.  The  indefatigable  Montcalm  had  disposed 
his  small  army  to  the  very  best  advantage,  and  was  pres- 
ent wherever  he  was  specially  needed.  Abercrombie  or- 
dered his  men  to  attempt  an  impossibility,  but  judiciously 
kept  himself  out  of  danger.  The  English  army  was  yet 
four  to  one  of  the  French,  and  could  have  conquered  with 
the  aid  of  the  cannon  which  had  been  brought  up,  yet 
Abercrombie  hastily  retreated.  As  Montcalm's  troops 
were  few  and  exhausted,  he  did  not  attempt  to  pursue  him. 
The  monotony  of  disasters  was  disturbed  by  Colonel 
Bradstreet,  of  New  York,  who,  after  much  solicitation, 
obtained  permission  to  go  against  Fort  Frontenac,  which, 
from  its  position  at  the  foot  of  Lake  Ontario,  commanded 
that  lake  and  the  St.  Lawrence.  It  was  a  central  point 
for  trading  with  the  Indians  ;  a  great  magazine  which 
supplied  all  the  posts  on  the  upper  lakes  and  Ohio  with 
military  stores.  With  twenty-seven  hundred  men,  all 
Americans,  principally  from  New  York  and  Massachu- 
setts, Bradstreet  passed  rapidly  and  secretly  to  Oswego, 
and  thence  across  the  lake  in  open  boats,  and  landed 
Aug.  within  a  mile  of  the  fort.  The  majority  of  the  garrison, 
*6*  terrified  at  the  sudden  appearance  of  enemies,  fled ;  the 
next  day  the  remainder  surrendered.  There  was  found 
an  immense  amount  of  military  stores,  some  of  them  des- 
tined for  Fort  Du  Quesne,  and  a  fleet  of  nine  armed  ves- 


THE   HIGHLANDERS   ROUTED.  303 

sels,  which  held  the  command  of  the  lake.     The  fort  was  ££&[ 

razed  to  its  foundation,  two  of  the  vessels  were  laden  with  

stores  and  brought  to  Oswego  ;  the  remaining  stores  and    1758. 
ships  were  destroyed. 

The  troops  raised  in  Pennsylvania  for  the  expedition 
under  General  Forbes  against  Fort  Du  Quesne  were  as- 
sembled at  Raystown,  on  the  Juniata.  Washington  was 
at  Cumberland,  with  the  Virginia  regiment.  His  plan 
was  to  march  directly  upon  the  fort  by  the  road  which 
Braddock  had  made.  This  common-sense  plan  was  re- 
jected, and  the  suggestions  of  some  land  speculators 
adopted,  and  Forbes  ordered  a  new  road  to  be  cut  through 
the  wilderness  further  north. 

General  Bouquet  with  the  advance  passed  over  the 
Laurel  Hill,  and  established  a  post  at  Loyal  Hanna. 
Without  permission  he  despatched  Major  Grant  with 
eight  hundred  Highlanders  and  a  company  of  Virginians 
to  reconnoitre  in  the  vicinity  of  Fort  Du  Quesne.  Grant  Sept 
was  permitted  to  approach  unmolested,  though  the  French  15, 
knew  from  their  scouts  of  all  his  movements.  As  he 
drew  near,  he  sent  a  party  to  take  a  plan  of  the  fort,  and 
placed  Major  Lewis  with  the  Virginians  to  guard  the  bag- 
gage, as  if  they  were  not  to  be  trusted  in  the  contest. 
Not  a  gun  was  fired  from  the  fort.  Grant  self-compla- 
cently  attributed  this  to  the  dread  his  regulars  had  in- 
spired. All  this  time  the  Indians  lay  quietly  in  ambush, 
waiting  for  the  signal  to  commence  the  attack.  Presently 
out  rushed  the  garrison,  and  attacked  the  Highlanders  in 
front,  while  in  a  moment  the  fearful  war-whoop  arose  on 
both  flanks.  Terrified  at  the  unusual  contest,  they  were 
thrown  into  confusion  ;  their  bewildered  officers  began  to 
manoeuvre  them  as  if  in  the  open  field.  Major  Lewis 
with  some  of  his  party  hastened  to  the  rescue,  and  there 
fought  hand  to  hand  with  the  savages.  The  detachment, 
overpowered    by  numbers,  was   completely   routed,  and 


304  HISTORY    OF   THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

chap.  Grant  and  Lewis  were  both  made  prisoners.     The  fugi- 

txm-    tives  soon  reached  the  place  where  they  left  the  baggage. 

1758.  Captain  Bullit  hastily  formed  a  barricade  with  the  wag- 
ons, behind  which  he  waited  the  approach  of  the  pursuers. 
When  they  were  within  a  few  yards,  the  Virginians  poured 
in  a  fire  so  direct  and  deadly  as  to  check  them.  They 
soon  rallied  and  again  approached.  This  time,  Captain 
Bullit  and  his  men  advanced,  as  if  to  surrender,  but  when 
within  eight  yards  he  again  poured  in  an  effective  fire,  and 
immediately  charged  bayonet.  The  pursuers  were  so  as- 
tonished at  the  suddenness  and  manner  of  attack  that 
they  fled  in  dismay,  while  the  Virginians  retreated  with 
all  speed. 

When  the  news  of  this  disaster  reached  the  main 
army,  it  well-nigh  ruined  the  whole  enterprise  ,  as  a  coun- 
cil of  war  decided  to  give  up  the  attempt  for  that  year, 
as  it  was  now  November,  and  there  were  yet  fifty  miles  of 
unbroken  forest  between  them  and  the  fort.  Just  then 
some  prisoners  were  brought  in,  from  whom  the  defence- 
less condition  of  the  fort  was  learned.  Washington  was 
given  the  command  of  a  division  with  which  to  push  for- 
ward. In  a  few  days  they  arrived  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Du  Quesne.  Instead  of  meeting  with  a  vigorous  resist- 
ance, they  were  surprised  to  learn  that  the  place  had  been 
abandoned  the  day  before.  The  French  commander  had 
blown  up  his  magazines,  burned  every  building  that  would 
burn,  and  with  his  company  gone  on  board  of  flat-boats 

fl-ov.  and  floated  down  the  Ohio.  On  the  twenty-fifth  of  No- 
86.  vember,  Washington  marched  into  the  deserted  fort,  and 
planted  the  English  colors.  An  impulse  of  grateful  feel- 
ing changed  the  name  to  Fort  Pitt — since  Pittsburg,  in 
honor  of  the  illustrious  man — the  first  of  English  states- 
men, who  appreciated  the  character  of  the  American  colo- 
nists, and  who  was  willing  to  do  them  justice.  Situated 
at  the  head  of  the  Ohio,  in  a  region  celebrated  for  its  agri- 
cultural and  mineral  wealth,  and  settled  by  a  moral  and 


PLAN   OF    OPERATIONS    AGAINST    CANADA.  305 

industrious  population,  it  has  far  exceeded  in  importance  |^^ 

any  other  acquisition  made  during  the  war.     A  fit  monu-  

ment  to  the  memory  of  the  "  Great  Commoner. "  1V58. 

The  object  of  the  campaign  thus  secured,  Washington, 
leaving  two  Virginia  regiments  to  garrison  the  fort,  re- 
signed his  commission,  and  retired  to  private  life.  In  the 
mean  time  he  had  been  elected  a  member  of  the  House  of 
Burgesses.  A  few  months  afterward,  on  the  opening  of 
the  session,  the  House,  by  vote,  resolved  to  receive  the 
youthful  champion  with  some  befitting  manifestation  of 
its  regard.  Accordingly,  when  he  took  his  seat  as  a  mem- 
ber, the  Speaker  addressed  him,  giving  him  thanks  for  the 
military  services  he  had  rendered  his  country.  Taken  by 
surprise,  Washington  rose  to  reply,  but  words  were  want- 
ing ;  he  faltered  and  blushed.  "  Sit  down,  Mr.  Washing- 
ton/' kindly  said  the  Speaker;  "your  modesty  equals 
your  valor,  and  that  surpasses  the  power  of  any  language 
I  possess." 

This  year  closed  with  great  advantages  to  the  English. 
The  cunning  Indians — still  true  to  the  winning  side — be- 
gan to  desert  the  French,  and  to  form  treaties  of  peace  or 
neutrality  with  their  enemies.  The  comprehensive  mind 
of  Pitt  was  devising  plans  to  crush  the  French  power  in 
America.  He  promptly  paid  all  the  expenses  incurred  by 
the  colonists  during  the  past  year,  and  they  with  alacrity 
entered  into  his  schemes.  Wolfe  was  to  ascend  the  St. 
Lawrence  ;  Amherst  was  to  advance  by  way  of  Lake  Cham- 
plain,  and  capture  Montreal,  and  then  join  Wolfe  before 
Quebec  ;  while  General  Prideaux  was  to  capture  Fort  Ni- 
agara, and  then  to  pass  down  Lake  Ontario  to  Montreal. 

As  Amherst  advanced  against  Ticonderoga,  the  French    175*. 
abandoned  that  post,  and  the  others  as  he  approached  ;        y 
he  wasted  his  time  in  fortifying  the  places  deserted  by  the 
enemy,  as  if  they  who  were  so  exhausted  as  to  be  scarcely 
able  to  get  out  of  his  way,  would  ever  return  1     Though 
General  Prideaux  was  unfortunately  killed  by  the  burst- 


27. 


306  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

^P.    ing  of  a  gun,  yet  Sir  William  Johnson,  on  whom  the  oom- 

mand  devolved,  took  Niagara ;  and  thus  the  chain  which 

1759.   joined  the  French  forts  of  Canada,  with  those  of  the  val- 
ley of  the  Mississippi,  was  broken  forever. 
June  The  fleet  and  troops  designed  against  Quebec,  assem- 

bled at  Louisburg.  In  the  latter  part  of  June  the  arma- 
ment arrived  at  the  Isle  of  Orleans,  upon  which  the  troops 
immediately  landed.  The  rock  on  which  stood  the  citadel 
of  St.  Louis,  could  be  seen  to  the  west  looming  up  more 
than  three  hundred  feet,  bidding  defiance  to  the  invaders. 
In  the  rear  were  the  Heights  of  Abraham,  a  plain  extend- 
ing for  miles,  while  all  along  the  shore  the  high  cliiFa 
seemed  to  be  an  impregnable  defence, 

To  meet  this  force,  Montcalm  had  only  a  few  enfeebled 
battalions  and  Canadian  militia.  The  Indians  held  them- 
selves aloof.  The  English  fleet  consisted  of  twenty- two 
ships  of  the  line,  and  as  many  frigates.  As  master  of  one 
of  these  ships  was  Captain  James  Cook,  afterward  cele- 
brated as  the  discoverer  of  the  many  isles  of  the  Pacific. 
Under  Wolfe  were  four  young  and  ardent  commanders, 
Kobert  Monckton,  afterward  governor  of  New  York; 
George  Townshend,  and  James  Murray,  and  also  Colonel 
Howe,  afterward  Sir  William,  who  for  a  time  commanded 
the  British  army  in  the  American  Revolution. 

Quebec,  situated  on  a  peninsula  between  the  St.  Law- 
rence and  the  river  St.  Charles,  was  defended  on  three 
sides  by  these  rivers,  leaving  only  the  west  exposed.  The 
lower  town  was  on  the  beach,  while  the  upper  was  on  the 
cliff  two  hundred  feet  above.  The  high  cliffs  of  the  north 
shore  of  the  St.  Lawrence  were  deemed  a  sufficient  de- 
fence. It  was  thaught  impossible  for  an  army  to  scale 
them.  Below  on  the  St.  Lawrence,  between  the  St. 
Charles  and  the  Montmorenci  rivers,  was  Montcalm's 
camp,  guarded  by  many  floating  batteries  and  ships  of 
war.  But  the  naval  superiority  of  the  English  soon  ren- 
dered them  masters  on  the  wa  cr. 


THE   RESOLVE   TO   SCALE   THE   HEIGHTS.  307 

The  French  troops  were  driven  from  Point  Levi,  di-  S5£? 

rectly  opposite  Quebec,  and  Wolfe  erected  batteries  on  

that  spot,  and  began  to  bombard  the  lower  town,  which  1759. 
was  soon  reduced  to  ashes  ;  but  owing  to  the  distance,  the 
fortress  and  the  upper  town  could  not  be  injured.  Wolfe 
then  passed  over  to  the  north  side  of  the  river,  below  the 
Montmorenci,  intending  to  pass  that  stream,  and  force 
Montcalm  to  a  battle. 

When  this  design  was  carried  into  effect,  the  first 
division,  consisting  of  the  grenadiers,  rashly  rushed  on  to 
storm  the  French  lines  before  the  second  division  could 
come  up  to  support  them.  They  were  repulsed,  with  a 
loss  of  nearly  five  hundred  men.  Diversions  were  also 
made  above  the  town  to  induce  the  enemy  to  come  into 
the  open  field,  but  without  success.  Montcalm  merely 
sent  De  Bougainville  with  fifteen  hundred  men  to  guard 
against  these  attacks. 

The  repulse  at  Montmorenci  occasioned  the  sensitive  ^7 
Wolfe  much  suffering.  He  looked  for  the  tardy  Amherst, 
but  in  vain  1  No  tidings  came  from  him,  and  it  seemed 
as  if  the  enterprise,  the  first  under  his  own  command, 
was  about  to  fail.  He  was  thrown  into  a  violent  fever  by 
his  anxiety.  As  a  last  resort,  it  was  resolved,  in  a  coun- 
cil held  around  his  bed,  to  scale  the  Heights  of  Abraham. 
In  order  to  do  this,  the  French  must  be  deceived.  There- 
fore Captain  Cook  was  sent  to  take  soundings  and  place 
buoys  opposite  Montcalm's  camp,  as  if  that  was  to  be  the 
special  object  of  attack.  Meantime,  the  shore  for  many 
miles  above  the  town,  was  carefully  examined.  At  one 
place  was  found  a  little  indentation  in  the  bank,  from 
which  a  path  wound  up  the  cliff, — there  they  determined 
to  make  the  attempt.  This  is  now  known  as  Wolfe's  Cove. 
The  troops  were  put  on  shipboard  and  suddenly  sailed  up 
the  river,  as  if  intending  to  pass  beyond  the  French  lines 
and  there  land.  At  night  the  ships  lay  to,  and  the  troops, 
in  boats,  dropped  down  with  the  tide  to  Wolfe's  Cove,  fol- 


308  HISTORY   OF   THE    AMEKICAN   PEOPLE. 

chap,  lowed  by  the  ships  designed  to  cover  their  landing,  if  necea- 
.  sary.     As  they  passed,  a  French  sentinel  hailed  them  with 


1759.  the  inquiry,  "  Who  goes  there  ?  "  "  La  France/'  answer- 
ed a  captain.  "  What  regiment  ?  "  "  The  Queen's  " — that 
being  one  of  the  regiments  up  the  river  with  Bougainville. 
The  sentinel  was  deceived.  They  passed  on  to  the  Cove, 
and  quietly  landing  began  to  grope  their  way  up  the  cliff, 
clinging  to  the  shrubs  and  rocks  for  support.  In  the 
morning  the  entire  army  was  on  the  Heights  of  Abraham, 
ready  for  battle. 

^  t  Montcalm  was  thunderstruck,  when  he  heard  the  news. 

3.  "It  must  surely  be,"  said  he,  " a  small  party  come  to 
pillage,  and  then  retire."  More  correct  information  re- 
vealed to  him  the  whole  truth.  There  was  no  time  to  be 
lost.  He  sent  immediately  for  the  detachment  of  Bou- 
gainville, which  was  fifteen  miles  up  the  river.  The 
Indians  and  Canadians  advanced  first,  and  subjected  the 
English  to  an  irregular,  and  galling  fire.  Wolfe  ordered 
his  men  to  reserve  their  fire  for  the  French  regulars,  who 
were  rapidly  approaching.  When  they  were  within  forty 
yards,  the  English  poured  upon  them  a  stream  of  musket- 
ry, aided  by  grape-shot  from  a  few  guns  dragged  up  the 
cliff  by  the  sailors.  It  was  a  fierce  conflict.  The  respect- 
ive commanders  were  opposite  to  each  other.  Wolfe,  al- 
though wounded  twice,  continued  to  give  his  orders  with 
clearness  ;  but  as  he  advanced  with  the  grenadiers,  who 
were  to  make  their  final  charge  with  the  bayonet,  he  re- 
ceived a  ball  in  the  breast.  He  knew  the  wound  was 
mortal,  and  when  falling  said  to  the  officer  nearest  to 
him  :  "  Let  not  my  brave  fellows  see  me  fall."  He  was 
carried  to  the  rear  ;%when  asked  if  he  would  have  a  sur- 
geon, he  answered  :  "  It  is  needless  ;  it  is  all  over  with 
me."  As  his  life  was  fast  ebbing,  the  cry  was  raised — 
"  See,  they  run  !  they  run  ! "  "  Who  run  !  "  asked  the 
dying  man.  "  The  enemy,  sir,"  was  the  answer.  "  Do 
they  run  already  ?  "  he  asked  with  evident  surprise.  Sum- 


WOLFE   AND    MONTCALM.  309 

moning  his  failing  energies,  "  Go  one  of  you,  to  Colonel  chap 

Burton,"  said  he  ;  "  tell  him  to  march  Webb's  regiment  [ 

with  all  speed  down  to  Charles  river,  to  cut  off  the  retreat  1759. 
by  the  bridge."  Then  turning  upon  his  side,  he  mur-  JJ* 
mured,  "  Now  God  be  praised,  I  die  happy."  These  were 
the  last  words  of  the  young  hero,  in  whom  were  centred 
the  hopes  of  his  soldiers  and  of  his  country.  Monckton 
was  severely  wounded,  and  the  command  devolved  upon 
Townshend,  who,  content  with  being  master  of  the  field, 
called  the  troops  from  the  pursuit.  Just  at  the  close  of 
the  battle  Bougainville  appeared  with  his  division ;  but 
the  contest  was  declined. 

There  is  a  peculiar  interest  attached  to  the  name  and 
character  of  Wolfe.  A  miod  sensitive  in  its  emotions  and 
vigorous  in  its  thoughts,  animated  his  feeble  body.  He 
maintained  a  love  for  the  quieter  paths  of  literature,  even 
amid  the  excitements  of  the  camp.  On  the  clear  star- 
'ight  night  preceding  the  battle,  as  the  boat  in  which  he 
was  seated  with  his  officers  was  silently  floating  down  the 
St.  Lawrence,  he  recited  to  them  that  classic  poem, 
Gray's  "  Elegy  in  a  Country  Church-yard ; "  then  just 
published.  Death  seems  to  have  already  cast  his  dark 
shadow  upon  him,  and  doubtless  many  of  the  finer  pas- 
sages of  the  poem  were  in  accordance  with  his  subdued  and 
melancholy  emotions.  Then  for  a  time  the  aspirations 
of  the  man  of  feeling  and  poetic  taste  triumphed  over  the 
sterner  ambition  of  the  warrior,  and  at  its  close  he  ex- 
claimed :  "  I  would  rather  be  the  author  of  that  poem 
than  to  take  Quebec  to-morrow." 

The  brave  and  generous  Montcalm  was  mortally 
wounded  near  the  close  of  the  battle.  When  carried  into 
the  city,  the  surgeon  informed  him  that  he  could  survive 
only  a  few  hours.  "  So  much  the  better,"  he  calmly  re- 
plied, "  I  shall  not  live  to  see  the  surrender  of  Quebec." 
When  asked  his  advice  about  defending  the  city,  he  an- 


1827. 


18. 


310  HISTOEY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

chap,   swered :  "  To   your  keeping  I   commend  the  honor  of 

France.     I  will  neither  give  orders  nor  interfere  any  fur- 

1759.  ther ;  I  have  business  of  greater  moment  to  attend  to  ; 
my  time  is  short  ;  I  shall  pass  this  night  with  God,  and 
prepare  myself  for  death/'  He  then  wrote  a  letter  to  the 
English  commander,  commending  to  his  favor  the  French 
prisoners.  The  next  morning  he  died.  That  generation 
passed  away,  and  with  it  the  animosity  which  existed  be- 
tween the  conquerors  and  the  conquered.  The  united 
people  of  another  generation  erected  a  granite  monument, 
on  which  they  inscribed  the  names  of  Montcalm  and 
Wolfe. 
Sept.  Five  days  after  the  battle  Quebec  surrendered.    There 

were  great  rejoicings  both  in  America  and  England. 
Praises  were  lavished  upon  Pitt.  He  in  Parliament  re- 
plied, *  I  will  aim  to  serve  my  country,  but  the  more  a 
man  is  versed  in  business,  the  more  he  finds  the  hand  of 
Providence  everywhere."  The  next  year  an  attempt  was 
made  by  the  French  to  recover  Quebec,  but  it  failed.  An 
overwhelming  force  was  brought  against  Montreal.  Re- 
sistance was  vain,  and  Yaudreuil,  the  governor,  surren- 
dered all  the  French  stations  on  the  Lakes.  The  troops 
were  to  be  sent  home,  and  the  Canadians,  protected  in 
their  property,  were  to  enjoy  their  religious  privileges. 
Thus  passed  away  the  French  power  in  Canada.  Depend- 
ents upon  the  mother  country,  the  inhabitants  had  never 
exercised  the  right  of  self-government ;  they  lacked  the 
energy  essential  to  success  as  an  independent  people. 
They  have  assimilated  but  little  with  their  conquerors. 
They  still  preserve  that  gay  simplicity  of  manners,  so 
characteristic  of  their  nation,  and  an  ardent  attachment 
to  the  church  of  their  fathers. 

Meantime  disturbances  had  occurred  on  the  south- 
west. The  Cherokees  had  always  been  the  friends  of  the 
English,  and  had  undertaken  to  protect  the  frontiers  south 
of  the  Potomac,  yet  for  this  their  warriors,  when  about  to 


WAR   WITH    THE    CHEBOKEE&  311 

return  home,  received  no  reward  from  the  government —  (^ff 

not  even  supplies  of  food  for  their  journey.     What  the  

State  failed  to  do  was  done  by  Washington  and  his  offi-  1758. 
eers,  who  supplied  their  wants.  The  next  year  more 
Cherokees  joined  the  expedition  under  Forbes  against 
Fort  Du  Quesne.  As  they  were  returning  home  along 
the  western  borders  of  Virginia,  to  avoid  starvation  they 
helped  themselves  to  what  they  wanted.  This  led  to 
quarrels  with  the  backwoodsmen,  who  killed  and  scalped 
some  of  their  number.  When  this  was  told  in  the  land 
of  the  Cherokees,  it  caused  sorrow,  indignation,  and  alarm  ; 
the  women,  relatives  of  those  who  were  slain,  poured  forth 
deep  and  bitter  wailings  for  the  dead  ;  the  young  warriors, 
indignant,  armed  themselves  for  revenge ;  the  old  men 
cautioned  and  counselled,  and  did  all  in  their  power  to 
prevent  war,  but  in  vain  ;  two  white  men  fell  victims  to  the 
rage  of  the  young  warriors.  Tiftoe  and  five  other  chieftains 
went  to  Charleston  to  beg  for  peace,  and  to  heal  differ- 
ences. The  governor,  the  haughty  and  arbitrary  Lyttle- 
ton,  demanded  that  the  young  men  who,  according  to  the  Oct 
ideas  of  the  sons  of  the  forest,  had  vindicated  the  honor  1^69* 
of  their  nation,  u  should  be  delivered  up  or  put  to  death 
in  their  own  land."  This,  the  Cherokees  thought,  would 
only  add  fuel  to  the  flame  already  kindled.  The  legislature 
decided  unanimously  that  there  was  no  cause  for  war. 
News  came  from  the  frontier  that  all  was  peaceful ; 
"  there  were  no  bad  talks."  The  obstinate  governor  per- 
sisted in  his  demand,  and  created  more  disturbance.  Then 
he  told  the  chiefs  who  wished  for  peace  to  come  to  him 
and  hold  a  talk,  and  promised  them  safe  conduct  to  and 
from  Charleston.  Trusting  to  his  word,  the  great  warrior 
Oconostata  came  with  thirty  others  But  Lyttleton  must 
obtain  for  himself  the  glory  of  a  successful  expedition 
against  the  Cherokees.  He  called  out  the  militia  in  spite 
of  the  remonstrances  of  the  people,  of  the  legislature,  and 
of  his  own  council,  and  basely  retained  as  prisoners,  those 


312  HISTOEY   OF   THE    AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

CHAP-  ^vno  had  trusted  his  word.     He  marched  into  the  ccuntry 

1  of  the  Cherokees,  forced  a  treaty  from  a  feeble  old  chief, 

1759.  who  had  no  authority  to  make  one,  and  then  returned  in 
fancied  triumph.  Oconostata  and  a  few  others  were  lib- 
erated. The  remainder  Lyttleton  ordered  to  be  kept  pris- 
oners at  Fort  Prince  George  till  twenty-four  warriors 
should  be  given  up  to  him.  Oconostata  made  an  attempt 
to  liberate  his  friends.  In  this  effort  a  white  man  was 
killed  ;  then,  in  revenge,  the  garrison  murdered  the  pris- 
oners. Now  the  rage  of  the  Cherokees  knew  no  bounds. 
They  exclaimed  :  "  The  spirits  of  our  murdered  brothers 
are  flying  around  us  screaming  for  vengeance."  The  leg- 
islature strongly  condemned  the  perfidious  conduct  of 
Lyttleton,  and  asserted  their  "  birth-rights  as  British 
subjects,"  and  affirmed  that  he  had  "  violated  their  un- 
doubted privileges."  Yet  this  very  man  received  the 
highest  commendations  from  the  "  Board  of  Trade." 

The  Cherokees,  driven  to  desperation  by  such  treat- 
ment, called  to  their  aid  the  Muscogees,  and  sent  to 
Louisiana  for  military  supplies.  The  Carolinians  applied 
to  General  Amherst,  who  sent  them  twelve  hundred 
1750.  men,  principally  Highlanders,  under  General  Montgomery. 
They,  with  the  Carolinians,  pressed  forward,  by  forced 
marches,  into  the  land  of  the  Cherokees.  Why  give  the 
details  of  desolated  settlements  ?  Village  after  village 
was  destroyed,  and  fertile  valleys  laid  waste.  On  the 
upper  Savannah  was  the  beautiful  vale  of  Keowee,  "  the 
delight  of  the  Cherokees."  They  had  become  so  far  civil- 
ized as  to  build  comfortable  houses,  and  to  surround  them 
with  cultivated  fields.  Suddenly  appeared  the  invaders. 
The  great  majority  of  the  Indians,  after  an  attempt  at 
j  .  defence,  fled,  and  from  the  distant  mountain-tops  saw  the 
enemy  burning  their  houses  and  destroying  their  crops. 
"I  cannot  help  pitying  them  a  little,"  writes  Colonel 
Grant :  "  their  villages  are  agreeably  situated,  their  houses 


PONTIAC.  313 

neatly  built.     There  were  everywhere  astonishing  maga-   §h±p 
sines  of  corn,  which  were  all  consumed."  

After  this  dash  at  the  Cherokees,  Montgomery  imme-    1760. 
diately  returned  to  the  north,  as  ordered  by  Amherst. 
The  Indians  were  not  subdued,  but  enraged ;  they  con- 
tinued to  ravage  the  back  settlements  of  the  Carolinas. 

Immediately  after  the  surrender  of  Canada,  all  the  17W. 
French  stations  on  the  lakes  were  occupied  by  the  con- 
querors, and  the  little  stockade  posts  throughout  all  that 
region,  and  in  the  valley  of  the  Ohio,  were  garrisoned  by 
a  few  men,  in  many  instances  not  exceeding  twenty.  The 
French,  either  as  traders  or  as  religious  teachers,  had  won 
the  confidence  and  the  affection  of  the  Indians,  by  a 
friendly  intercourse  extending  through  more  than  half  a 
century.  Was  it  strange  that  the  contrast  appeared 
great  to  them,  between  these  friends  and  companions  and 
the  domineering  English  soldiers,  who  insulted  their  priests 
and  vilified  their  religion  ?  The  French  had  prohibited 
the  trade  in  rum,  but  the  English  introduced  the  traffic, 
and  the  demoralization  of  the  Indians  commenced.  The 
capture  of  Fort  Du  Quesne  was  the  signal  for  a  torrent 
of  emigration,  which  poured  over  the  mountains  into  the 
valleys  of  the  Monongahela  and  Alleghany.  The  Indians 
feared  the  pale-faces  would  drive  them  from  their  homes. 

Adopted  into  the  tribe  of  the  Ottawas,  was  a  Catawba, 
who  had  been  brought  from  the  South  as  a  prisoner,  but 
who  had,  by  his  genius  and  bravery,  risen  to  be  a  chief.  He 
had  the  most  unbounded  influence  over  his  own  and  other 
tribes,  and  was  styled  "  the  king  and  lord  of  all  the  coun- 
try of  the  north-west."  "  How  dare  you  come  to  visit  my 
country  without  my  leave  ?  "  demanded  he  of  the  first  Eng- 
lish officer  who  came  to  take  possession  of  the  French  forts. 
Such  was  Pontiac,  the  Philip  of  the  north-west,  who,  in 
the  war  which  bears  his  name,  made  the  last  great  strug- 
gle for  the  independence  of  the  Bed  Man.  This  master 
spirit  planned,  and  partially  executed,  one  of  the  most 


314  HISTORY    OF   THE    AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

chap,    comprehensive  schemes  ever  conceived  by  Indian  sagacity 

to  expel  the  invaders,  and  maintain  his  own  authority  aa 

1763.  "  king  and  lord  "  of  all  that  region.  He  induced  the  Del- 
awares,  the  Shawnees,  the  Senecas,  the  Miamis,  and  many 
lesser  tribes,  who  roamed  over  the  vast  region  in  the  basin 
of  the  upper  lakes,  in  the  valley  of  the  Ohio,  and  a  portion 
of  that  of  the  Mississippi,  to  join  in  the  conspiracy.  He 
sent  a  prophet  through  the  land  to  proclaim  that  the 
Great  Spirit  had  revealed  to  him,  "  that  if  the  English 
were  permitted  to  dwell  in  their  midst,  then  the  white 
man's  diseases  and  poisons  would  utterly  destroy  them." 
This  conspiracy  was  more  than  a  year  in  forming,  yet  it 
was  kept  a  profound  secret. 

Detroit  had  the  largest  garrison,  was  the  great  centre 
for  the  trade  of  the  upper  lakes,  and  most  important  in 
its  influence.  Here  the  French  were  numerous ;  they 
tilled  their  farms,  as  well  as  engaged  in  the  traffic  of  furs. 
Pontiac  desired  to  obtain  possession  of  the  fort.  He  inti- 
mated that  he  was  coming  with  his  warriors  to  have  a 
"  talk  "  with  his  English  brothers.  Meantime,  Gladwin, 
the  commander,  had,  learned  of  the  conspiracy.  Finding 
that  the  plot  was  discovered,  Pontiac  threw  off  the  mask, 
and  boldly  attacked  the  fort,  but  without  success.  This 
was  the  commencement  of  a  series  of  surprises  ;  the  In- 
dians, in  the  short  space  of  three  weeks,  captured  every 
station  west  of  Niagara,  except  Detroit  and  Pittsburg. 
The  soldiers  of  the  garrisons  were  nearly  all  put  to  death, 
more  than  one  hundred  traders  were  murdered  and  scalped 
in  the  wilderness,  and  more  than  five  hundred  families, 
after  losing  hundreds  of  their  members,  were  driven  from 
their  homes  on  the  frontiers.  A  large  force  from  several 
tribes  concentrated  around  Pittsburg,  the  most  important 
post  in  the  valley  of  the  Ohio  ;  yet  the  brave  garrison 
could  not  be  caught  by  their  wiles,  nor  conquered  by  their 
arms.     Their  ravages,  in  the  mean  while,  extended  to  all 


INDIANS    DEFEATED PITTSBURG   RELIEVED.  315 

the  settlements  and  posts  on  the  head-waters  of  the  Ohio,  chap 

and  on  the  lakes  to  the  region  between  the  Mississippi  , , 

and  the  Ohio.  1768. 

General  Bouquet  was  sent  from  Eastern  Pennsylvania 
to  relieve  Fort  Ligonier,  just  at  the  western  foot  of  the 
mountains,  and  Pittsburg.  His  army  consisted  of  not 
more  than  five  hundred  effective  men,  principally  Scotch 
Highlanders.  They  had  with  them  a  train  of  wagons, 
drawn  by  oxen,  and  pack-horses  laden  with  military  stores 
and  necessary  provisions,  and  a  drove  of  beef  cattle. 
Passing  through  a  region  desolated  by  the  savages,  they 
saw  the  remains  of  burnt  cabins,  and  the  harvests  stand- 
ing uncut  in  the  fields. 

When  he  arrived  at  Ligonier,  Bouquet  could  learn 
nothing  from  the  west,  as  all  intercourse  had  been  cut  off. 
Leaving  there  his  wagons  and  cattle,  he  pushed  forward 
to  ascertain  the  fate  of  Pittsburg.  The  Indians  besieging 
that  place,  heard  of  his  approach,  and  they  resolved  to 
place  themselves  in  ambush,  and  defeat  his  army.  As 
soon  as  the  battle  began,  the  Highlanders  dashed  at  them 
with  the  bayonet,  and  the  Indians  fled  ;  but  when  the 
pursuit  slackened  they  rallied,  and  were  again  repulsed. 
At  length,  the  number  of  the  savages  increased  so  much 
that  they  completely  surrounded  the  Highlanders,  who, 
during  the  night,  encamped  on  the  ridge  of  a  hill.  In  the 
morning  they  could  not  advance,  for  their  wounded  men 
and  baggage  would  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy. 
Placing  two  companies  in  ambush,  Bouquet  began  to  re- 
treat, and  immediately,  with  exulting  yells,  the  Indians 
rushed  on  in  pursuit,  but  when  they  came  to  the  right 
point,  those  in  ambush  charged  them  on  both  sides,  and 
those  retreating  wheeled  and  charged  also.  Panic-stricken 
by  the  suddenness  of  the  attack,  the  savages  broke  and 
fled.  The  division  then  moved  on  to  Pittsburg.  From 
that  day  the  valley  of  the  Ohio  was  free  from  Indian  vio- 


316  HISTORY  OF  THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

chap,  lence.     The  stream  of  emigration  began  again  to  pom 

1  over  the  mountains.     The  tribes,  disheartened,  began  to 

1764-    make  treaties  and  promise  peace.     Pontiac  would  make 
no  treaty,  nor  acknowledge  himself  a  friend  of  the  Eng- 
lish.  He  left  his  home  and  tribe  and  went  to  the  country 
of  the  Illinois,  where  he  was  assassinated. 
1769.  For  nearly  three-quarters  of  a  century  a  dispute  had 

existed  between  the  authorities  of  the  colonies  of  Penn- 
sylvania and  Maryland  in  respect  to  their  boundary  line. 
Finally,  a  compromise  was  agreed  upon  by  which  a  start- 
ing-point was  to  be  taken  "  fifteen  English  statute  miles 
1760.  south  of  the  latitude  of  the  most  southerly  part  of  Phila- 
delphia." This  point  was  to  be  on  the  circumference  or 
tangent  of  a  circle  whose  center  was  New  Castle — now  in 
Delaware — and  radius  twelve  miles ;  from  that  "  fifteen^ 
mile  point  a  line  was  to  be  run  due  west  across  the 
Susquehannah,  etc.,  to  the  utmost  longitude  of  Pennsyl- 
vania." This  circle  sweeps  round  from  the  west  to  the 
north-east,  and  is  said  to  be  the  only  boundary  in  the 
world  in  which  the  circle  is  used. 

The  king  sent  out  from  London  two  learned  astrono- 
mers— Charles  Mason  and  Jeremiah  Dixon — to  run  the 
line.  They  commenced  their  labors,  and  in  five  years 
made  a  report  of  their  progress.  Troubles  with  the  In- 
1768  dians  interfered,  and  they  could  not  finish  the  work, 
which  was  completed  fifteen  years  afterward  by  other 
hands.  The  English  surveyors  cut  openings  through  the 
woods ;  at  the  end  of  every  mile  they  set  up  a  stone,  on 
one  side  of  which  the  letter  "  P"  was  cut  in,  and  on  the 
other  the  letter  "I;"  and  every  five  miles  a  stone 
brought  from  England,  but  instead  of  the  letters  were  en- 
graved the  coats-of-aians  of  the  Penns  and  of  Lord  Balti- 
more. This  line  is  artificial,  not  a  mountain  nor  a  river 
is  used — it  passes  over  both.  JSTo  boundary  has  marked 
greater  contrasts  in  society  and  its  advancement  than  the 
famous  "  Mason  and  Dixon's  Line." 


CHAPTER    XXIV. 

CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  COLONISTS. 

Religious  Influences  among  the  earlier  Settlers. — The  later  Emigrants ;  their 
Influence. — Lore  of  domestic  Life. — Laws  enjoining  Morality. — Sys- 
tems of  Education ;  Common  Schools. — John  Calvin. — The  South'-  -ner ; 
the  Northerner. — The  Anglo-Saxon  Element ;  the  Norman. — Influences 
in  Pennsylvania ;  in  New  York. — Diversity  of  Ancestry. 

The  conquest  of  Canada  had  removed  apprehensions  of   chap. 

.  .  XXIV 

war  with  France,  or  of  incursions  by  the  Indians.     The  ] 

colonists  naturally  turned  to  their  own  affairs.  They  176O. 
were  poor  and  in  debt ;  a  seven  years'  war  had  been  within 
their  borders  ;  their  men  had  been  drawn  from  the  labor 
of  industry  to  the  battle-field.  Yet  that  war,  with  its 
evils,  had  conferred  benefits.  It  had  made  known  to  them 
their  strength,  and  success  had  given  them  confidence. 

Before  relating  the  events  that  led  to  the  Kevolution, 
let  us  take  a  rapid  survey  of  the  people,  who  were  soon  to 
take  their  place  among  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

From  the  first  they  were  an  intelligent  and  a  religious 
people.  They  were  untrammelled  in  the  exercise  of  their 
religion,  and  its  spirit  moulded  public  sentiment  in  all 
the  colonies,  whether  settled  by  the  Puritan  or  the  Church- 
man, by  the  Dutch  Calvinist  or  the  Quaker,  by  the 
Huguenot  or  the  Scotch-Irish  Presbyterian.  The  two 
latter  were  of  more  receDt  emigration  ;  they  did  not  di- 
minish the  high  tone  of  morals  already  sustained  by  the 
earlier  settlers. 


318  HISTORY   OE   THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

chap.         The  Huguenots  came  in  small  companies,  and  seldom 

"  settled  together  in  large  numbers,  but  mingled  with  the 

1760.  colonists,  and  conformed  more  and  more  to  their  customs, 
and,  in  time,  became  identified  with  them  in  interests. 
Calvinists  in  doctrine,  they  generally  united  with  either 
the  Episcopal  or  Presbyterian  churches,  and  by  their  piety 
and  industrious  habits  exerted  an  influence  that  amply 
repaid  the  genuine  hospitality  with  which  they  were  every- 
where received. 

The  Scotch-Irish  Presbyterians  displayed  the  indomi- 
table energy  and  perseverance  of  their  ancestors,  with  the 
same  morality  and  love  of  their  church.  Even  those  who 
took  post  on  the  outskirts  of  civilization  along  the  western 
frontiers  of  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  Virginia,  and  North 
Carolina,  had  their  pastor,  and  trained  their  children  in 
Bible  truth,  in  the  catechism,  obedience  to  parents, — 
a  wholesome  doctrine  practically  enforced  by  all  the  colo- 
nists,— and  reverence  for  the  Sabbath  and  its  sacred  duties. 
They  were  a  people  decided  in  their  character.  They 
emigrated  from  their  native  land  to  enjoy  civil  and  relig- 
ious privileges,  but  they  had  also  an  eye  to  the  improve- 
ment of  their  temporal  affairs. 

The  endearments  of  home  and  of  the  domestic  fireside 
had  charms  for  the  colonists  of  every  creed.  The  educa- 
tion of  their  children  was  deemed  a  religious  duty,  while 
around  their  households  clustered  the  comforts  and  many 
of  the  refinements  of  the  times.  The  example  of  their 
ancestors,  who  had  sought  in  the  wilderness  an  asylum, 
where  they  might  enjoy  their  religion,  had  not  been  in 
vain  ;  a  traditionary  religious  spirit  had  come  down  from 
those  earlier  days,  and  now  pervaded  the  minds  of  the 
people. 

Though  there  was  neither  perfect  uniformity  in  their 
forms  of  worship,  nor  in  their  interpretation  of  religious 
doctrines,  yet  one  sentiment  was  sacred  in  the  eyes  of  all — 
a  reverence  for  the  day  of  Holy  Kest.     The  influences 


LAWS   ENJOINING    MORALITY.  319 

connected  with  the  Sabbath,  and  impressed  fkm  week  to  $M* 

week,  penetrated  their  inner  life,  and  like  an  all-pervading  1 

moral   antiseptic    preserved,  in  its  purity,  the  religious    1760. 
character  of  the  entire  people. 

The  laws  of  a  people  may  be  taken  as  the  embodiment 
of  their  sentiments.  Those  enacted  by  our  forefathers 
may  excite  a  smile,  yet  they  show  that  they  were  no  time- 
servers — that  they  were  conscientious  and  in  earnest. 

In  New  England  the  laws  noticed  those  who  dressed 
more  richly  than  their  wealth  would  justify  ;  they  would 
not  permit  the  man  who  defrauded  his  creditors  to  live  in 
luxury  ;  those  who  did  not  vote,  or  would  not  serve  when 
elected  to  office,  they  fined  for  their  want  of  patriotism  ; 
they  forbade  "  drinking  of  healths  as  a  bad  habit ; "  they 
prohibited  the  Wearing  of  embroidered  garments  and  laces  ; 
they  discouraged  the  use  of  "  ribbons  and  great  boots  ; " 
sleeves  must  reach  to  the  wrist,  and  not  be  more  than 
half  an  ell  wide  ;  no  one  under  twenty  years  of  age  was 
allowed  to  use  tobacco,  unless  prescribed  by  a  physician  ; 
those  who  used  it  publicly  were  fined  a  sixpence  ;  all  per- 
sons were  restrained  from  "  swimming  in  the  waters  on 
the  Sabbath-day,  or  unreasonably  walking  in  the  fields  or 
streets. " 

In  Virginia  we  see  the  same  spirit.  In  every  settle- 
ment there  was  to  be  "  a  house  for  the  worship  of  God." 
Divine  service  was  to  be  in  accordance  with  the  canons  of 
the  Church  of  England.  Absence  from  church  was  pun- 
ished by  a  fine  ;  the  wardens  were  sworn  to  report  cases 
of  "  drunkenness,  swearing,  and  other  vices."  The  drunk- 
ards were  fined,  the  swearers  also,  at  the  rate  of  "  a  shil- 
ling an  oath  ; n  slanderers  and  tale-bearers  were  punished  ; 
travelling  or  shooting  on  the  Sabbath  forbidden.  The 
minister  was  not  to  addict  himself  "  to  excess  in  drinking 
or  riot,  nor  play  cards  or  dice,  but  to  hear  or  read  the 
Holy  Scriptures,  catechize  the  children,  and  visit  the 
sick."     The  wardens  were  bound  to  report  the  masters 


320  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMEEICAK  PEOPLE. 

c^p.   and  mistresses  "  who  neglected  to  catechize  the  ignorant 

!  persons  under  their  charge."     In  the  Carolinas  laws  of  a 

1760.  similar  character  were  enacted  ;  and,  in  Pennsylvania, 
against  "  stage  plays,  playing  of  cards,  dice,  May-games, 
masques,  and  revels." 

^Although,  at  the  time  of  which  we  write,  many  of 
these,  and  similar  laws  had  "become  obsolete,  yet  the  influ- 
ences which  dictated  them  had,  for  one  hundred  and  fifty 
years,  been  forming  the  character  of  the  colonists.  Hedged 
in  on  the  one  side  by  the  ocean,  and  on  the  other  by 
a  howling  wilderness  filled  with  hostile  savages,  they 
acquired  a  certain  energy  of  character,  the  result  of 
watchfulness,  and  an  individuality,  which  to  this  day  dis- 
tinguishes their  descendants. 

While  emigrants  were  flocking  to  the  colonies,  these 

influences  were  somewhat  disturbed,  but  for  three-quarters 

1688.    of  a  century — since  the  great  revolution  in  England  had 

restrained  the  hand  of  oppression — emigration  had  been 

gradually  diminishing. 

Thus  uninfluenced  from  without,  the  political  and  re- 
ligious principles  with  which  they  were  imbued  had  time 
to  produce  their  fruit.  A  national  sentiment,  a  oneness 
of  feeling  among  the  people,  grew  into  vigorous  being. 
The  common  schools  of  New  England  had  exerted  their 
undivided  influence  for  almost  three  generations  ;  the 
youth  left  them  with  that  conscious  self-reliance  which 
springs  spontaneously  in  the  intelligent  mind — a  pledge 
of  success  in  things  great  as  well  as  small.  These  schools, 
no  doubt,  gave  an  impulse  to  female  education.  In  the 
earlier  days  of  New  England  the  women  were  taught  to 
~ead,  but  very  few  to  write.  "  The  legal  papers  executed 
in  the  first  century  (of  the  colony)  by  well-to-do  women, 
were  mostly  signed  by  a  mark,  (X  )  ".l      The  custom  of 

'Elliott's  History  of  New  England,  toL  i  p,  428. 


EDUCATION — FREE   INQUIRY   AND   CIVIL   LIBERTY.  321 

settling  in  townships  or  villages  made  it  easy  to  support  SS££ 
common  schools.  

In  the  middle  colonies,  especially  Pennsylvania  and  If 60. 
New  York,  a  system  of  general  education  had  not  been 
introduced  ;  the  diversity  of  sects  prevented.  In  the 
South,  except  partially  in  Maryland,  common  schools  were 
not  adopted.  The  owners  of  slaves  usually  held  large 
tracts  of  the  best  lands,  while  the  less  wealthy  were  com- 
pelled to  retire  to  the  outskirts  of  the  settlements,  where 
they  could  obtain  farms.  The  population  was  thus  so 
much  scattered,  that  generally  children  could  not  be  con- 
centrated at  particular  places  in  sufficient  numbers  to 
sustain  schools.  Those  who,  for  want  of  means,  could  not 
employ  private  teachers,  taught  their  own  children  as  best 
they  could.  Among  this  class,  from  year  to  year,  there 
was  but  little  increase  in  general  intelligence.  The 
wealthy  employed  private  instructors,  or  sent  their  chil- 
dren abroad.  As  the  nation  increased  in  knowledge,  the 
people  cherished  the  right  to  exercise  free  thought  and 
free  speech. 

Our  ancestors  lived  not  for  themselves  alone.  With 
the  prophet's  vision,  and  the  patriot's  hope,  they  looked 
forward  to  the  day,  when  all  this  continent  would  be  un- 
der the  influence  of  their  descendants,  and  they  a  Chris- 
tian people.  Was  it  strange  they  were  self-denying  and 
in  earnest,  in  endeavoring  to  spread  the  blessings  of 
education  and  religion,  as  the  greatest  boon  they  could 
transmit  to  their  posterity  ?  Thus  they  labored  to  found 
institutions  of  learning  ;  they  encouraged  the  free  ex- 
pression of  opinion.  From  the  religious  freedom  of  con- 
science, which  they  proclaimed  as  the  doctrine  of  the 
Bible,  the  transition  was  easy  to  political  freedom.  The 
advocate  of  free  inquiry  became  the  advocate  of  civil  lib- 
erty, and  the  same  stroke  which  broke  the  chain  binding 
the  word  of  God  to  the  interpretation  of  the  church,  shat- 
tered the  fetters  binding  the  political  slave. 


322  HISTORY    OF   THE    AMERICAN"   PEOPLE. 

chap.  Much  of  this  sentiment  may  be  traced  to  the  influence 

XXIV. 

[  exerted  by  the  opinions  of  one  man,  John  Calvin.     "  We 

1760.  boast  of  our  common  schools,  Calvin  was  the  father  of 
popular  education,  the  inventor  of  free  schools.  The  pil- 
grims of  Plymouth  were  Calvinists  ;  the  best  influence  of 
South  Carolina  came  from  the  Calvinists  of  France.  Wil- 
liam Perm  was  the  disciple  of  the  Huguenots  ;  the  ships 
from  Holland  that  first  brought  colonists  to  ManhattaD 
were  filled  with  Calvinists.  He  that  will  not  honor  the 
memory  and  respect  the  influence  of  Calvin,  knows  but 
little  of  the  origin  of  American  liberty.  He  bequeathed 
to  the  world  a  republican  spirit  in  religion,  with  the  kin- 
dred principles  of  republican  liberty/' l 

There  were  slight  differences  of  character  between  the 
people  of  the  several  colonies.  In  the  eastern,  the  diffi- 
culties arising  from  a  sterile  soil  had  made  the  people 
industrious  and  frugal.  There,  labor  was  always  honorable, 
and  when  the  day  came  "  which  tried  men's  souls,"  great 
numbers  of  the  prominent  men  came  from  the  ranks  of 
manual  labor.  The  Anglo-Saxon  element  greatly  pre- 
dominated among  the  colonists  of  New  England.  As 
simple  in  manners  as  rigid  in  morals,  a  truly  democratic 
spirit  and  love  of  liberty  pervaded  their  minds,  and  hence 
political  constitutions  of  whose  benefits  all  were  partici- 
pants. The  Norman  element  prevailed  more  in  the  South, 
especially  in  Virginia.  Here  the  wealthy  colonists  were 
more  aristocratic  in  spirit  and  feeling  ;  were  more  refined 
and  elegant  in  manners.  This  aristocratic  spirit  was  fos- 
tered, in  time,  by  the  system  of  slavery,  while  the  dis- 
tinctions in  society  arising  from  the  possession  of  wealth 
were  greatly  increased.  In  all  the  southern  colonies,  the 
mildness  of  the  climate,  the  labor  of  slaves,  and  the  ready 
sale  of  their  tobacco,  rice,  and  indigo,  made  the  acquisition 
of   wealth   comparatively  easy.     The  planter,  "  having 

1  Bancroft's  Miscellanies,  pp.  405-6. 


INFLUENCES  IN   PENNSYLVANIA.  323 

more  leisuie,  was  more  given  to  pleasures  and  amuse-  ^^* 

ments — to  the  sports  of  the  turf,  the  cock-pit,  the  chase,  

and  the  gaming-table.  His  social  habits  often  made  him  1760. 
profuse,  and  plunged  him  in  debt  to  the  English  or  Scotch 
merchant,  who  sold  his  exported  products  and  furnished 
him  his  foreign  supplies.  He  was  often  improvident,  and 
sometimes  not  punctual  in  his  pecuniary  engagements."  ' 
The  planters  were  hospitable.  Living  upon  isolated  plan- 
tations, they  were  in  a  measure  deprived  of  social  inter- 
course ;  but  when  opportunity  served,  they  enjoyed  it 
with  a  relish.  As  the  Southerner  was  hospitable,  so  the 
Northerner  was  charitable.  From  the  hard  earnings  of  the 
farmer,  of  the  mechanic,  of  the  merchant,  of  the  seafaring 
man,  funds  were  cheerfully  given  to  support  schools,  to 
endow  colleges,  or  to  sustain  the  ordinances  of  the  gospel. 
In  the  South,  colleges  were  principally  endowed  by  royal 
grants. 

In  Pennsylvania  was  felt  the  benign  influence  of  the 
disciples  of  George  Fox,  and  its  benevolent  founder.  The 
friends  of  suffering  humanity,  the  enemies  of  war,  the 
opponents  of  classes  and  ranks  in  society  founded  on  mere 
birth,  they  recognized  merit  wherever  found.  There  the 
human  mind  was  untrammelled — conscious  of  a  right  de- 
rived from  a  higher  authority  than  conventional  law  ; 
there  public  posts  were  open  to  all — no  tests  intervened 
as  a  barrier.  At  this  time  the  ardent  aspirations  of  Ben- 
jamin Franklin  in  the  pursuit  of  science  received  the 
sympathy  of  the  people.  In  Philadelphia  he  was  the 
means  of  founding  an  academy  and  free  school,  which  grew 
into  a  university.  Here  was  founded  the  first  medical  col- 
lege in  the  colonies,  the  first  public  library,  and  the  first 
hospital.  Here,  Bartram,  the  botanist,  founded  the  first 
botanic  garden  ;  and  here  was  formed  the  American  Phil- 
osophical Society.  Here  lived  Godfrey,  the  inventor  of 
the  quadrant,  which  bears  the  name  of  Hadley. 

Mucker's  History  of  the  United  States,  vol.  l,  p.  97. 


324  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN"   PEOPLE. 

chap  ln  New  York,  "  the  key  of  Canada  and  the  lakes/* 

1  were  blended  many  elements  of  character.     Here   com- 

1760.  merce  began  to  prevail,  and  here  the  arbitrary  laws  of  the 
Board  of  Trade  were  vigorously  opposed,  and  so  often 
eluded,  that  Holland  derived  more  benefit  from  the  trade 
than  England  herself.  It  cost  nearly  as  much  as  the 
amount  of  the  import  duties  to  maintain  the  cruisers  and 
the  "  Commissioners  of  Customs."  The  "  Dutch  ."Repub- 
licans "  had  been  for  nearly  a  century  pupils  in  the  school 
where  the  "  rights  of  Englishmen  "  were  taught ;  they 
profited  so  much  by  the  instruction,  that  they  paid  very 
little  attention  to  the  king's  prerogative,  and  thought 
their  own  Legislature  quite  as  respectable  as  the  House  oi 
Commons. 

Although  the  great  majority  of  the  Americans  were 
the  descendants  of  Englishmen,  yet  there  were  represent- 
atives from  Scotland,  from  Ireland,  from  Wales,  from 
France,  from  Holland,  from  Germany,  from  Sweden,  and 
from  Denmark.  In  religion,  there  were  Churchmen  and 
Dissenters,  Quakers  and  Catholics.  Though  they  differed 
in  many  minor  points,  and  indulged  in  those  little  ani- 
mosities which  unfortunately  too  often  arise  between  peo- 
ple of  different  nations  and  religions,  yet  they  cherished  a 
sympathy  for  each  other.  They  were  all  attached  to  the 
mother  country — the  South,  perhaps,  more  than  the  North; 
the  former  had  not  experienced  so  severely  the  iron  hand 
of  royal  rule.  Some  strong  external  pressure  was  required 
to  bind  them  more  closely  together,  if  ever  they  were  to 
become  an  independent  nation.  That  external  pressure 
was  not  long  wanting. 


CHAPTER   XXV. 

CAUSES  WHICH  LED  TO  THE  REVOLUTION. 

Restrictions  of  Trade  and  Manufactures. — Taxes  imposed  by  Parliament.— 
Writs  of  Assistance. — James  Otis. — Samuel  Adams. — The  "Parsons'" 
Case  in  Virginia. — Patrick  Henry. — A  Stamp  Tax  threatened. — Colonel 
Barre's  Speech. — The  Stamp  Act. — Excitement  in  the  Colonies. — Henry 
in  the  House  of  Burgesses. — Resolutions  not  to  use  Stamps. — "  Sons 
of  Liberty." — A  Call  for  a  Congress ;  it  meets,  and  the  Colonial  As- 
semblies approve  its  Measures. — Merchants  refuse  to  purchase  English 
Merchandise. — Self-denial  of  the  Colonists. — Pitt  defends  them. — 
Franklin  at  the  Bar  of  the  House  of  Commons. — Stamp  Act  repealed. — 
Rejoicings. — Dartmouth  College. 

The  industrious  habits  of  the  colonists  were  no  less  wor-  c^* 

thy  of  notice  than  their  moral  traits.     The  contest  with  

the  mother  country  had  its  origin  in  her  attempts  to  de-  1750 
prive  them,  by  means  of  unjust  laws,  of  the  fruits  of  their 
labor.  For  one  hundred  years  she  had  been  imposing 
restrictions  on  their  trade  and  domestic  manufactures. 
They  were  treated  as  dependents,  and  inferiors  who 
occupied  "  settlements  established  in  distant  parts  of  the 
world  for  the  benefit  of  trade."  They  could  purchase 
from  England  alone,  and  only  to  her  market  could  they 
lend  their  products.  That  English  merchants  might 
grow  rich  at  their  expense,  the  products  of  Europe  and 
Asia  were  first  to  be  landed  in  England,  and  then  re- 
shipped  to  America  in  British  vessels.  The  only  trade 
not  thus  taxed,  was  that  of  negroes,  they  being  shipped 
directly  from  Africa — a  trade  against  which  all  the  colo- 
nies earnestly,  but  in  vain,  protested.     Even  the   trees 


326  HISTOET   OF  THE   AMEKICAN   PEOPLE. 

chap,  in  the  forest   suitable  for   masts  were   claimed  by  the 

1  king,  and  marked  by  his  "  Surveyor-General  of  Woods." 

1760  "  Rolling  mills,  forges,  or  tilt-hammers  for  making  iron/' 
were  prohibited  as  "  nuisances/'  The  House  of  Commons 
said  "  that  the  erection  of  manufactories  in  the  colonies 
tended  to  lessen  their  dependency  upon  Great  Britain  ;  " 
and  the  English  ship-carpenters  complained  "  that  their 
trade  was  hurt,  and  their  workmen  emigrated,  since  so 
many  vessels  were  built  in  New  England."  The  hatter, 
because  he  could  obtain  his  fur  from  the  Indians  without 
sending  to  England,  was  not  permitted  to  sell  hats  out  of 
his  own  colony.  No  manufacturer  was  permitted  to  have 
more  than  two  apprentices.  The  government  was  unwil- 
ling that  the  colonists  should  make  for  themselves  a  single 
article  which  the  English  could  supply. 

These  measures  aroused  a  spirit  of  opposition,  more 
especially  among  the  frugal  and  industrious  inhabitants 
of  New  England,  whose  manufactures,  fisheries,  and  trade 
were  almost  ruined.  There  the  people  mutually  agreed 
to  buy  of  British  manufacturers  only  what  was  absolutely 
necessary  ;  rather  than  pay  the  English  merchant  exorbi- 
tant prices,  they  would  deprive  themselves  of  every  luxury. 
Families  determined  to  make  their  own  linens  and  wool- 
lens, and  to  abstain  from  eating  mutton,  and  preserve  the 
sheep  to  furnish  wool.  It  became  fashionable,  as  well  aa 
honorable,  to  wear  homespim.  Associations  were  formed 
to  promote  domestic  manufactures.  On  the  anniversary 
of  one  of  these,  more  than  three  hundred  young  women 
met  en  Boston  Common,  and  devoted  the  day  to  spinning 
flax.  The  graduating  class  of  Harvard  College,  not  to  be 
outdone  in  patriotism,  made  it  a  point  on  Commencement 
Day  to  be  clad  in  homespun.  Restrictions  on  trade  did  not 
affect  the  interests  of  the  people  of  the  South  so  much, 
as  England  could  not  dispense  with  their  tobacco,  rice, 
and  indigo,  and  they  had  scarcely  any  manufactories. 
17W.  Before  the  close  of  the  French  war,  it  was  intimated 


FRANKUN  WORKING  AS  A  PRINTER 


WRITS   OF   ASSISTANCE. 


327 


that  England  intended  to  tax  the  colonies,  and   make   chap 

them  bear  a  portion  of  the  burdens  brought  upon  herself  , 

by  the  mismanagement  of  her  officials.  Many  plans  were  1768. 
discussed  and  laid  aside.  Meantime  the  colonists  denied 
the  right  of  Parliament  to  tax  them  without  granting 
them,  in  some  form,  representation  in  the  government  ; 
they  claimed  a  voice  in  the  disposal  of  their  money.  They 
looked  back  upon  their  history,  and  were  unable  to  dis- 
cover the  obligations  they  owed  the  king.  They  loved  to 
think  of  Old  England  as  the  "  home  *  of  their  fathers  ; 
they  rejoiced  in  her  glories  and  successes,  and  nevei 
dreamed  of  separating  from  her,  until  driven  to  that  re- 
solve by  oppression.  Yet  visions  of  greatness,  and  it  may 
be  of  independence,  were  floating  through  the  minds  of 
the  far-seeing.  John  Adams,  when  a  youth,  had  already 
written  :  "It  looks  likely  to  me,  for  if  we  can  remove  the 
turbulent  Gallicks,  our  people,  according  to  the  exactest 
computations,  will  in  another  century  become  more  nu- 
merous than  England  itself.  Should  this  be  the  case, 
since  we  have,  I  may  say,  all  the  naval  stores  of  the  nation 
in  our  hands,  it  will  be  easy  to  obtain  the  mastery  of  the 
seas  ;  and  then  the  united  force  of  all  Europe  will  not  be 
able  to  subdue  us."  ■ 

A  special  effort  was  now  made  to  enforce  the  naviga- 
tion laws,  and  to  prevent  the  colonists  from  trading  with 
other  nations.  This  policy  would  have  converted  the  en- 
tire people  into  a  nation  of  smugglers  and  law-breakers, 
but  for  the  strong  religious  influences  felt  throughout  the 
land. 

To  enforce  these  laws,  Parliament  gave  authority  for 
using  general  search  warrants,  or  "  Writs  of  Assistance."    u^ 
These  Writs    authorized    any  sheriff   or  officer  of   the 
customs  to  enter  a  store  or  private  dwelling,  and  search 
for  foreign  merchandise,  which  he  suspected  had  not  paid 

aLife  and  Writings,  vol.  i.  p.  23. 


328  HISTOEY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 


char   duty.     The  quiet  of  the  domestic  fireside  was  no  longei 

1  to  be  held  sacred.     These  Writs,  first  used   in    Massa- 

1761.  chusetts,  caused  great  excitement  and  opposition.  Their 
legality  was  soon  brought  to  the  test  in  a  court  of  justice 
On  this  occasion  the  eloquent  James  Otis  sounded  the 
npte  of  alarm.  He  was  the  Advocate  for  the  Admiralty, 
whose  duty  it  was  to  argue  in  favor  of  the  Writs  ;  but  he 
resigned,  in  order  to  plead  the  cause  of  the  people.  The 
royalist  lawyer  contended  that  the  power  of  Parliament 
was  supreme,  and  that  good  subjects  ought  to  submit  to 
its  every  enactment.  In  reply,  Otis  exclaimed  :  "  To  my 
Feb.  dying  day,  I  will  oppose,  with  all  the  power  and  faculties 
God  has  given  me,  all  such  instruments  of  slavery,  on  the 
one  hand,  and  villany  on  the  other."  His  stirring  elo- 
quence gave  an  impulse  to  public  opinion,  which  aroused 
opposition  to  other  acts  of  Parliament.  "  Then  and 
there,"  says  John  Adams,  "was  the  first  opposition  tc 
arbitrary  acts  of  Great  Britain.  Then  and  there  Ameri- 
can Independence  was  born."  The  writs  were  scarcely 
ever  enforced  after  this  trial. 

Of  the  leading  men  of  the  times,  none  had  greater  in- 
fluence than  Samuel  Adams — in  his  private  life,  the 
devout  Christian  ;  in  his  public  life,  the  incorruptible 
patriot.  In  him  the  spirit  of  the  old  Puritans  seemed  to 
linger  :  mild  in  manners,  living  from  choice  in  retire- 
ment, incapable  of  an  emotion  of  fear,  when  duty  called 
him  to  a  post  of  danger.  Learned  in  constitutional  law, 
he  never  went  beyond  its  limits.  Through  his  influence 
Boston  expressed  her  opinions,  saying,  "  We  claim  Brit- 
ish rights,  not  by  charter  only — we  are  born  to  them.  If 
we  are  taxed  without  our  consent,  our  property  is  taken 
without  our  consent,  and  then  we  are  no  more  freemen, 
but  slaves."  And  she  invited  all  the  colonics  to  join  in 
obtaining  redress.  The  same  note  of  alarm  was  sounded 
in  Virginia,  in  New  York,  in  Connecticut,  and  in  the 
Carolinas      Thinking  minds  saw  in  the  future  the  coming 


THE   KING'S   PREROGATIVE — PATRICK   HENRY.  329 

contest ;  that  the  English  ministry  would  persist  in  their   chap 

anjust  treatment,  until,  in  self-defence,  they  had  driven  1 

the  whole  American  people  to  open  rebellion.  "They  1761. 
wish  to  make  us  dependent,  but  they  will  make  us  inde- 
pendent ;  these  oppressions  will  lead  us  to  unite  and  thus 
secure  our  liberty."  Thus  wrote  Kichard  Henry  Lee,  of 
Virginia.  "  Oh  !  poor  New  England,"  exclaimed  the  elo- 
quent George  Whitefield,  "there  is  a  deep-laid  plot 
against  your  liberties  ;  your  golden  days  are  ended." 

The  first  collision  in  Virginia  between  the  prerogative  1768, 
of  the  king  and  the  authority  of  the  legislature  occurred  Dec* 
in  a  county  court.  Tobacco  was  the  legalized  currency 
of  the  colony.  Occasionally,  untoward  events,  such  as 
war,  or  failure  of  the  crop,  made  payments  in  tobacco  very 
burdensome.  The  legislature  passed  a  law,  authorizing 
debtors  to  pay  their  public  dues  in  money,  at  the  rate  of 
twopence  a  pound  for  the  tobacco  due.  The  clergymen 
of  the  established  church  refused  to  acquiesce  in  the  law ; 
they  had  a  fixed  salary  of  a  certain  number  of  pounds  of 
tobacco  a  year.  At  their  instance,  Sherlock,  the  Bishop 
of  London,  used  his  influence  and  persuaded  the  king  to 
refuse  his  signature  to  this  law.  "  The  rights  of  the  cler- 
gy and  the  authority  of  the  king  must  stand  or  fall 
together,"  said  the  Bishop.  The  law  was  therefore  null 
and  void. 

To  test  it,  a  clergyman  named  Maury  brought  a  suit 
to  recover  damages,  or  the  difference  between  twopence 
per  pound  and  the  higher  price  for  which  tobacco  was 
selling.  It  became  the  cause  of  the  people  on  the  one 
side,  and  the  cause  of  the  clergy  and  of  the  king's  pre- 
rogative on  the  other.  The  people  engaged  a  young  man 
of  twenty-seven  to  plead  against  "  the  parsons." 

That  young  man  was  Patrick  Henry.  He  belonged 
not  t©  the  aristocracy,  and  was  obscure  and  unknown. 
On  this  occasion,  that  rare  and  wonderful  gift  of  eloquence, 
which  has  made  us  so  familiar  with  his  name,  was  first 


«>oO  HISTORY  OF  THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

chap    displayed.     He  possessed  a  charm  of  voice  and  tone  that 

fascinated  his  hearers  ;  a  grasp  of  thought,  a  vividness  of 

1763.  conception,  and  withal  a  power  that  allured  into  sympathy 
with  his  own  sentiments  the  emotions  of  his  audience. 
For  this  he  was  indebted  to  nature,  not  to  education ;  for, 
when  a  boy,  he  broke  away  from  the  restraints  of  school 
and  the  drudgery  of  book-learning,  to  lounge  idly  by 
some  solitary  brookside  with  hook  and  line,  or  in  more 
active  moods  to  dash  away  into  the  woods  to  enjoy  the  ex- 
citements of  the  chase.  He  learned  a  little  of  Latin,  of 
Greek  not  more  than  the  letters,  and  as  little  of  mathe- 
matics. At  eighteen  he  married,  engaged  in  trade,  and 
failed  ;  tried  farming  with  as  little  success  ;  then  read 
law  six  weeks,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  Yet  the 
mind  of  this  young  man  had  not  been  idle  ;  he  lived  in  a 
world  of  deep  thought  ;  he  studied  men.  He  was  now  to 
appear  for  the  first  time  as  an  advocate. 

The  whole  colony  was  interested  in  the  trial,  and  the 
court-room  was  crowded  with  anxious  spectators.  Maury 
made  objections  to  the  jury ;  he  thought  them  of  "  the 
vulgar  herd,"  "  dissenters,"  and  "  New  Lights."  "  They 
are  honest  men,"  rejoined  Henry.  The  court  overruled 
the  insulting  objections,  and  the  jury  were  sworn. 

The  case  was  plainly  against  him,  but  Henry  con- 
tended the  law  was  valid,  and  enacted  by  competent  au- 
thority ;  he  fell  back  upon  the  natural  right  of  Virginia 
to  make  her  own  laws,  independently  of  the  king  and  par- 
liament. He  proved  the  justness  of  the  law  ;  he  sketched 
the  character  of  a  good  king,  as  the  father  of  his  people, 
but  who,  when  he  annuls  good  laws  becomes  a  tyrant,  and 
forfeits  all  right  to  obedience.  At  this  doctrine,  so  new, 
so  daring,  the  audience  seemed  to  stand  aghast.  "  He 
has  spoken  treason,"  exclaimed  the  opposing  counsel.  A 
few  joined  in  the  cry  of  Treason  !  treason  !  Yet  the  jury 
brought  in  a  verdict  for  the  "  parsons  "  of  a  penny  dam- 
ages. 


THE    STAMP   ACT.  331 

Henry  denied  the  right  of  the  king  to  aid  in  making  c^^- 
laws  for  the  colonies.     His  argument  applied  not  only  to  , 

Virginia,  but  to  the   continent.     The  sentiment  spread    1768. 
from  colony  to  colony. 

Parliament  assumed  the  right  to  tax  the  Americans, 
and  paid  no  attention  to  their  protests,  but  characterized 
them  as  "  absurd,"  "  insolent/1  "  mad."  When  they  ex- 
postulated with  Grenville,  the  Prime  Minister,  he  warned 
them  that  in  a  contest  with  England  they  would  gain 
nothing.  The  taxes  must  be  levied  at  all  events  ;  and 
he  graciously  asked  if  there  was  any  form  in  which  they 
would  rather  pay  them  than  by  means  of  the  threatened 
stamps.  These  were  to  be  affixed  to  all  documents  used 
in  trade,  and  for  them  a  certain  impost  duty  was  charged. 
Only  the  English  merchants  whose  interests  were  involved 
in  the  American  trade,  appear  to  have  sympathized  with 
the  colonists.  Franklin,  who  was  then  in  London  as  agent 
for  the  Assembly  of  Pennsylvania,  wrote  home  :  "  Every 
man  in  England  regards  himself  as  a  piece  of  a  sovereign 
over  America,  seems  to  jostle  himself  into  the  throne 
with  the  king,  and  talks  of  our  subjects  in  the  colonies." 

The  Stamp  Act  did  not  pass  without  a  struggle.  Dur-  17w 
ing  these  discussions,  Colonel  Barre,  who,  in  the  war 
against  the  French,  was  the  friend  and  companion  of 
Wolfe,  charged  the  members  of  the  House  of  Commons 
with  being  ignorant  of  the  true  state  of  the  colonies. 
When  Charles  Townshend,  the  Chancellor  of  the  Ex- 
chequer, asked  the  question,  "  Will  our  American  chil- 
dren, planted  by  our  care,  nourished  by  our  indulgence, 
and  protected  by  our  arms,  grudge  to  contribute  their  mite 
to  relieve  us  from  our  burdens  ?  "  Barre  indignantly  re- 
plied :  "  They  planted  by  your  care  !  No,  your  oppres- 
sions planted  them  in  America.  They  fled  from  your 
tyranny  to  an  uncultivated,  inhospitable  country  ;  where 
they  exposed  themselves  to  almost  every  hardship,  and  to 
the  cruelties  of  the  savage  foe.     Thev  nourished  by  your 


332  HISTORY   OF  THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

chap,  indulgence  !     They  grew  by  your  neglect  ;.  your  care  foi 

1  them  was  to  send  persons  to  rule  them  ;  deputies  of  dep 

1765.  uties,  to  some  members  of  this  house,  sent  to  spy  out  their 
liberties,  to  misrepresent  their  actions,  and  to  prey  upon 
them ;  men  who  have  caused  the  blood  of  those  sons  oj 
liberty  to  recoil  within  them.  They  protected  by  yout 
arms  !  They  have  nobly  taken  up  arms  in  your  defence. 
Amidst  their  constant  and  laborious  industry  they  have 
defended  a  country  whose  frontiers  were  drenched  in  blood, 
while  its  interior  settlements  yielded  all  their  little  savings 
to  your  emoluments.  I  speak  the  genuine  sentiments  of 
my  heart.  They  are  a  people  as  truly  loyal  as  any  sub- 
jects of  the  king ;  they  are  jealous  of  their  liberties,  and 
will  vindicate  them,  if  ever  they  should  be  violated/' 

But  very  few  of  the  members  of  the  house  were  thus 
liberal  in  their  sentiments.  The  great  majority  looked 
upon  the  colonies  as  subservient  to  the  rule  of  the  mother 
country.  It  was  the  express  intention  of  the  ministry 
"  to  be  very  tender  in  taxing  them,  beginning  with  small 
duties  and  taxes,"  and  advancing  as  they  found  them 
willing  to  bear  it. 

The  House  of  Commons,  on  March  22d,  passed  the 
Stamp  Act  by  a  majority  of  nine  to  one  ;  ten  days  after- 
ward it  passed  the  House  of  Lords  almost  unanimously. 
The  king  was  ill ;  mystery  whispered  of  some  unusual 
disease.  When  George  III.  signed  the  Stamp  Act,  he 
was  not  a  responsible  being — he  was  insane. 

This  act  declared  that  every  written  agreement  be- 
tween persons  in  trade,  to  be  valid,  must  have  affixed  to 
it  one  of  these  stamps.  Their  price  was  in  proportion  to 
the  importance  of  the  writing  ;  the  lowest  a  shilling,  and 
thence  increasing  indefinitely.  Truly  this  "  was  to  take 
money  without  an  equivalent."  All  business  must  be 
thus  taxed,  or  suspended. 

In  order  to  enforce  this  act,  Parliament,  two  months 
afterward,  authorized  the  ministry  to  send  as  many  troops 


RESOLUTIONS    OF    THE    VIRGINIA    ASSEMBLY. 


333 


m  they  saw  proper  to  America.     For  these  soldiers  the   gLUP 

colonies  were  required  to  find  "quarters,  fuel,  cider  or  

ram,  caudles,  and  other  necessaries."  1765 

The  news  of  the  passage  of  these  arbitrary  laws  threw 
the  people  into  a  ferment.  They  became  acquainted  with 
rtach  other's  views  ;  the  subject  was  discussed  in  the  news- 
papers, was  noticed  in  the  pulpits,  and  became  the  en- 
grossing topic  of  conversation  in  social  intercourse.  In 
the  Virginia  Assembly,  Patrick  Henry  introduced  resolu- 
tions declaring  that  the  people  of  Virginia  were  only  bound 
to  pay  taxes  imposed  by  their  own  Legislature,  and  any 
person  who  maintained  the  contrary  should  be  deemed  an 
enemy  of  the  colony.  An  exciting  debate  followed,  in 
which  the  wonderful  power  of  Henry  in  describing  the 
tyranny  of  the  British  government  swayed  the  majority 
of  the  members.  In  the  midst  of  one  of  his  bursts  of 
eloquence  he  exclaimed  :  "  Caesar  had  his  Brutus,  Charles 
I.  his  Cromwell,  and  George  III. " — "  Treason  !  trea-  Uaj 
son  ! "  shouted  the  Speaker,  and  a  few  others  joined  him 
in  the  cry.  Henry  fixed  his  eye  upon  the  Speaker,  and 
in  the  tone  and  emphasis  peculiar  to  himself,  continued, 
"  may  profit  by  their  example.  If  that  be  treason,  make 
the  most  of  it."  The  resolutions  passed,  but  the  next 
morning,  in  Henry's  absence,  the  timid  in  the  Assembly 
rescinded  the  last,  and  modified  the  others.  The  governor 
immediately  dissolved  the  house  for  this  free  expression  of 
opinion.  Meantime,  a  manuscript  copy  of  the  resolutions 
was  on  its  way  to  Philadelphia,  where  they  were  speedily 
printed  and  sent  throughout  the  country.  They  raised 
the  drooping  spirits  of  the  people,  who  determined  to  neu- 
tralize the  law — they  would  never  use  the  stamps. 

The  Legislature  of  Massachusetts  resolved  that  the 
courts  should  conduct  their  business  without  their  use. 
Colden,  the  royalist  governor  of  New  York,  thought 
"  that  the  presence  of  a  battalion  would  prevent  mis- 
chief : "  but  the  council  suggested,  "  it  would  be  more 


334  history  or  the  American  people. 

Cx£f-  safe  for  the  government  to  show  a  confidence  in  the  peo- 

.  pie."     "  I  will  cram  the  stamps  down  their  throats  with 

1765.  my  sword/'  said  an  officer.  The  churchmen  preached 
obedience  to  the  king — the  "  Lord's  anointed."  William 
Livingston  answered,  "  The  people  are  the  !  Lord's  anoint- 
ed/ though  named  '  mob  and  rabble  * — the  people  are  the 
darling  of  Providence." 

Colonel  Barre,  in  his  famous  speech,  characterized 
those  in  America  who  opposed  British  oppression,  as 
"  Sons  of  Liberty."  He  read  them  rightly  ;  Sons  of  Lib- 
erty they  were,  and  destined  to  be  free  ;  they  felt  it  ;  they 
adopted  the  name,  it  became  the  watchword  under  which 
they  rallied.  Associations  called  by  this  name  sprang  up 
as  if  by  magic,  and  in  a  few  weeks  spread  from  Massachu- 
setts to  Maryland.  They  would  neither  use  stamps  nor 
permit  the  distributers  to  remain  in  office. 

One  morning  the  famous  Liberty  Tree  in  Boston  was 
found  decorated  with  the  effigies  of  some  of  the  friends  of 
the  English  ministry.  The  mob  compelled  Oliver,  the 
secretary  of  the  colony,  who  had  been  appointed  stamp 
distributer,  to  resign,  and  promise  that  he  would  not  aid 

Aug.  in  their  distribution.  They  also  attacked  the  houses  of 
some  of  the  other  officials.  The  patriots  protested  against 
these  lawless  proceedings.  Five  hundred  Connecticut 
farmers  came  into  Wethersfield  and  compelled  Jared 
Ingersol,  the  stamp  officer  for  that  colony,  to  resign,  and 
then  take  off  his  hat  and  give  three  cheers  for  "  Liberty, 
Property,  and  no  stamps."     Such  was  the  feeling,  and 

Nov  guch  the  result,  that  when  the  day  came,  on  which  the 
law  was  to  go  into  effect,  not  one  stamp  officer  could  be 
found — all  had  resigned. 

June.  The  General  Court  of  Massachusetts  issued  a  circular 

in  June,  inviting  all  the  colonies  to  send  delegates  to  a 
convention  or  Congress,  to  be  held  at  New  York,  on  the 
first  Tuesday  of  the  following  October.     Accordingly,  od 


THE   CONGRESS   IN    SESSION.  335 

the  day  named  delegates  from  nine  of  the  colonies  met  at  c*^- 
the  place  appointed.  , 

The  idea  of  a  union  of  the  colonies  dates  as  far  back  1765. 
as  the  days  of  William  Perm,  who  was  the  first  to  suggest 
it ;  but  now  the  question  was  discussed  by  the  various 
committees  of  correspondence.  At  a  convention  which 
met  at  Albany  eleven  years  before  this,  Benjamin  Frank- 
lin had  proposed  a  plan  of  union.  This  was  adopted  and 
laid  before  the  Assemblies  of  the  colonies,  and  the  Board 
of  Trade,  for  ratification.  It  met  with  a  singular  fate. 
The  Assemblies  rejected  it,  because  it  was  too  aristocratic, 
and  the  Board  of  Trade  because  it  was  too  democratic. 

The  Congress  met  and  spent  three  weeks  in  delibera-  Ot 
tion.  They  drew  up  a  Declaration  of  Rights,  a  Memorial 
to  both  Houses  of  Parliament,  and  a  Petition  to  the  king. 
They  claimed  the  right  of  being  taxed  only  by  their  own 
representatives,  premising,  that  because  of  the  distance, 
and  for  other  reasons,  they  could  not  be  represented  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  but  in  their  own  Assemblies.  These 
documents  were  signed  by  nearly  all  the  delegates,  and 
transmitted  to  England.  The  colonial  Assemblies,  at 
their  earliest  days  of  meeting,  gave  to  these  proceedings 
of  the  Congress  their  cordial  approval.  Thus  the  Union 
was  consummated,  by  which  the  colonies  "  became  as  a 
bundle  of  sticks  which  could  neither  be  bent  nor  broken." 
While  the  Congress  was  in  session,  a  ship  with  stamps  on 
board  made  its  appearance  in  the  bay.  Placards  were 
posted  throughout  the  city,  threatening  those  who  should 
attempt  to  use  them.  "  I  am  resolved  to  have  the  stamps 
distributed,"  said  C olden,  the  governor.  "  Let  us  see 
who  will  dare  to  put  the  act  into  execution,"  said  the 
Sons  of  Liberty. 

On  the  last  day  of  October  all  the  royal  governors, 
except  the  governor  of  Ehode  Island,  took  the  oath  to 
carry  into  execution  the  Stamp  Act.  On  the  next  day  the 
law  was  to  go  into  effect.     But  not  a  stamp  was  to  be 


336  HISTORY   OF  THE  AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

chap,   seen  ;  instead,  in  every  colony  the  bells  were  tolled,  and 
1  the  flags  lowered  to  half-mast — indications  that  the  pas- 

1765.  sage  of  this  act  was  regarded  as  "  the  funeral  of  liberty." 

The  merchants  of  New  York,  Boston,  and  Philadel- 
phia, agreed  to  send  no  orders  to  England  for  merchan- 
dise, to  countermand  those  already  sent,  and  to  receive  no 
goods  on  commission  till  the  act  was  repealed.  They  were 
sustained  by  the  people,  who  pledged  themselves  not  to  use 
the  products  of  English  manufacturers,  but  to  encourage 
their  own.  Circulars  were  sent  throughout  the  land  in- 
viting to  harmonious  action  ;  these  were  responded  to 
with  a  hearty  good-will.  Luxuries  were  dispensed  with, 
and  homespun  was  more  honorable  than  ever. 

The  infatuated  ministry,  in  view  of  this  opposition, 
resolved  to  modify,  not  to  repeal  the  law.  It  would  de- 
tract from  their  dignity,  to  comply  with  the  request  of  the 
colonists.  "  Sooner,"  said  one  of  them,  "  than  make  our 
colonies  our  allies,  I  would  wish  to  see  them  returned  to 
their  primitive  deserts." 

1766.  Infirm  health  had  compelled  Pitt  to  retire  from  active 
life.  "  My  resolution  is  taken,"  said  he,  "  and  if  I  can 
crawl  or  be  carried  to  London,  I  will  deliver  my  mind  and 
heart  upon  the  state  of  America."  When  accused  by 
Grenville  of  exciting  sedition,  "  Sir,"  said  he  in  reply, 
"  I  have  been  charged  with  giving  birth  to  sedition  in 
America.  Sorry  I  am  to  have  the  liberty  of  speech  in 
this  house  imputed  as  a  crime.  But  the  imputation  will 
not  deter  me  ;  it  is  a  liberty  I  mean  to  exercise.  The 
gentleman  tells  us  that  America  is  obstinate  ;  that  Amer- 
ica is  almost  in  rebellion.  I  rejoice  that  America  has  re- 
sisted." The  sentiment  startled  the  house  ;  he  continued  : 
"  If  they  had  submitted,  they  would  have  voluntarily  be- 
come slaves.  They  have  been  driven  to  madness  by  injus- 
tice. My  opinion  is,  that  the  Stamp  Act  should  be  repealed, 
absolutely,  totally,  immediately."  The  celebrated  Edmund 


THE   STAMP   ACT    REPEALED — REJOICINGS.  337 

Burke,  then  a  young  man  rising  into  notice,  advocated  the  chap 
repeal  with  great  eloquence.  , 

The  House  of  Commons  wished  to  inquire  still  further  1766. 
of  the  temper  of  the  Americans  before  taking  the  vote. 
They  accordingly  called  witnesses  to  their  bar,  among 
whom  was  Benjamin  Franklin.  His  knowledge  was  the 
most  perfect,  and  his  testimony  had  the  greatest  effect 
upon  theii  minds.  He  said  the  colonists  could  not  pay 
for  the  stamps  for  want  of  gold  and  silver  ;  that  they  had 
borne  more  than  their  share  of  expense  in  the  last  war,  and 
that  they  were  laboring  under  debts  contracted  by  it ; 
that  they  would  soon  supply  themselves  with  domestic 
manufactures  ;  that  they  had  been  well  disposed  toward 
the  mother  country,  but  recent  laws  were  lessening  their 
affection,  and  soon  all  commerce  would  be  broken  up,  un- 
less those  laws  were  repealed  ;  and  finally,' that  they  never 
would  submit  to  taxes  imposed  by  those  who  had  no  au- 
thority. The  vote  was  taken,  and  the  Stamp  Act  was  Mar. 
repealed  ;  not  because  it  was  unjust,  but  because  it  could 
not  be  enforced.  The  people  of  the  English  commercial 
cities  manifested  their  joy  ;  bonfires  were  lighted,  the  ships 
displayed  their  gayest  colors,  and  the  city  of  London  itself 
was  illuminated.  Expresses  were  sent  to  the  seaports, 
that  the  news  might  reach  America  as  soon  as  possible. 

The  rejoicings  in  the  colonies  were  equally  as  great. 
In  Boston,  the  bell  nearest  to  the  Liberty  Tree  was  the 
first  to  ring  ;  soon  gay  flags  and  banners  were  flying  from 
the  shipping,  from  private  dwellings,  and  from  the  steeples 
of  the  meeting-houses.  Amidst  the  joy,  the  unfortunate 
were  not  forgotten,  and  those  immured  in  the  debtor's 
prison,  were  released  by  the  contributions  of  their  friends. 
The  ministers,  from  their  pulpits,  offered  thanksgiving  in 
the  name  of  the  whole  people,  and  the  associations  against 
importing  merchandise  from  England  were  dissolved. 
New  York,  Virginia,  and  Maryland,  each  voted  a  statue 
to  Pitt,  who  became  more  than  ever  a  popular  idoL 


338 


HISTORY   OF  THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 


Cxxv>'  *n  ***e  m^t  °f  tnese  troubles  the  cause  of  education 

1  and  religion  was  not  forgotten.     The  Eev.  Eleazar  Whee- 

1766.  lock  established  at  Lebanon,  in  Connecticut,  a  school  to 
educate  Indian  boys,  and  train  them  as  teachers  for  their 
own  race.  Success  attended  the  effort.  A  grant  of  forty- 
four  thousand  acres  of  land  induced  him  to  remove  the 
school  to  Hanover,  New  Hampshire.  Under  the  name  of 
Dartmouth,  a  charter  as  a  college  was  granted  it,  by 
1769  Wentworth,  the  governor.  The  Earl  of  Dartmouth,  a 
Methodist,  a  friend  of  John  Wesley,  aided  it,  was  one  of 
its  trustees,  and  took  charge  of  the  funds  contributed  for 
it  in  England — hence  the  name. 

The  establishment  of  this  institution  was  one  of  the 
effects  of  the  Great  KevivaL  In  the  midst  of  the  native 
forest  of  pines  the  work  was  commenced.  The  principal 
and  his  students  dwelt  in  log-cabins,  built  by  their  own 
hands. 


OHAPTBE    XXVI. 

CAUSES  WHICH  LED  TO  THE  REVOLUTION— CONTINUED. 

The  English  Ministry  determine  to  obtain  a  Revenue. — Massachusetts  invites 
to  harmonious  Action. — The  Romney  and  the  Sloop  Liberty. — A  Brit- 
ish Regiment  at  Boston. — Collision  with  the  Citizens. — Articles  of  Asso- 
ciation proposed  by  Washington. — The  Tax  upon  Tea. — Whigs  and 
Tories. — The  Gaspe  captured. — The  King's  Maxim. — The  Resolutions 
not  to  receive  the  Tea. — Tea  thrown  into  Boston  Harbor. — Its  Recep- 
tion at  other  Places. — More  oppressive  Laws  passed,  by  Parliament. — 
Aid  sent  to  Boston. — Gage's  Difficulties. — Alexander  Hamilton. — The 
Old  Continental  Congress. — The  Organization ;  the  first  Prayer. — The 
"  Declaration  of  Rights." — The  "  American  Association." — The  Papers 
issued  by  the  Congress. — The  Views  of  Pitt  in  relation  to  them. 

Lord  Grenville,  the  head  of  the  ministry,  was  dismissed,   |^ap 
and  the  Marquis  of  KocMngham  took  his  place.     This  , 

ministry  soon  gave  way,  and  another  was  appointed  by    1756. 
the  king,  at  the  head  of  which  was  placed  Pitt,  who,  in 
the  mean  time,  had  been  created  Earl  of  Chatham. 

The  following  year,  daring  Pitt's  absence,  Charles 
Townshend,  his  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  announced 
that  he  intended,  at  all  risks,  to  derive  a  revenue  from  J^ 
America,  by  imposing  a  duty  upon  certain  articles,  which 
the  colonists  received  from  abroad,  such  as  wine,  oil, 
paints,  glass,  paper,  and  lead  colors,  and  especially  upon 
tea,  as  they  obtained  it  cheaper  from  Dutch  smugglers 
than  the  English  themselves.  It  was  suggested  to  him 
to  withdraw  the  army,  and  there  would  be  no  need  of  a 


340  HISTORY   OF  THE  AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

chap.  tax.     "  I  will  hear  nothing  on  the  subject,"  said  he  ;  u  it 
XXVL   is  absolutely  necessary  to  keep  an  army  there." 
jygif.  The  colonists  were  startled  by  this  news.     They  now 

remembered  the  fatal  reservation  in  the  repeal  of  the 
Stamp  Act,  that  Parliament  had  the  absolute  right  to  tax 
them.  "  We  will  form  a  universal  combination  to  eat 
nothing,  to  drink  nothing,  and  wear  nothing,  imported 
from  England,"  passed  as  a  watchword  from  one  colony 
to  another,  and  very  soon  the  non-importation  associations 
were  again  in  vigor.  "  Courage,  Americans  ;  liberty,  relig- 
ion, and  science  are  on  the  wing  to  th  se  shores.  The 
finger  of  God  points  out  a  mighty  empire  to  your  sons," 
said  one  of  the  lawyers  of  New  York.  "  Send  over  an 
army  and  fleet,  and  reduce  the  dogs  to  reason,"  wrote  one 
of  the  royal  governors  to  the  ministry. 

Suddenly  the  Eomney,  a  man-of-war,  appeared  in  the 
harbor  of  Boston.  The  question  soon  arose,  Why  is  a 
vessel  of  war  sent  to  our  harbor  ?  The  people  had  resisted 
no  law  ;  they  had  only  respectfully  petitioned  for  redress, 
and  resolved  to  dispense  with  the  use  of  British  goods. 
Since  the  arrival  of  the  Komney,  the  haughty  manner  of 
the  Commissioners  of  Customs  toward  the  people  had  be- 
come intolerable.  The  Komney  frequently  impressed  the 
New  England  seamen  as  they  came  into  the  harbor.  One 
man  thus  impressed  was  forcibly  rescued  by  his  compan- 
ions. These  and  similar  outrages  excited  the  bitterest 
animosity  between  the  royal  officials  and  the  people. 

The  Massachusetts  Assembly  issued  a  circular  to  the 
other  Colonial  Assemblies,  inviting  to  harmonious  action 
in  obtaining  redress.  A  few  months  afterward  the  minis- 
1768.  try  sent  peremptory  orders  to  the  Assembly  to  rescind 
June,  their  circular.  Through  the  influence  of  Otis  and  Samuel 
Adams,  the  Assembly  refused  to  comply  with  the  arbitrary 
demand,  but  instead  intimated  that  Parliament  ought  to 
repeal  their  offensive  laws.  Meantime  the  other  Colonial 
Assemblies  received  the  circular  favorably,  and  also  en- 


A   BRITISH   REGIMENT   STATIONED   IN   BOSTON.  341 

couraged  Massachusetts  in  her  resistance  to  tyranny  and   chap 
injustice.  

At  this  crisis,  under  the  pretence  that  she  had  made  1768. 
a  false  entry,  the  sloop  Liberty,  belonging  to  John  Han- 
cock, one  of  the  prominent  leaders,  was  seized,  and  towed 
under  the  guns  of  the  Romney.  She  was  laden  with  Ma- 
deira wine,  on  which  duties  were  demanded.  The  news 
soon  spread,  and  a  crowd  collected,  the  more  violent  of 
whom  attacked  the  houses  of  the  Commissioners  of  Cus- 
toms, who  were  forced  to  fly  for  safety  to  Castle  William 
in  the  harbor.  Of  these  outbreaks  of  a  few  ignorant  per- 
sons, the  most  exaggerated  accounts  were  sent  to  Eng- 
land, and  there  it  was  resolved  to  send  more  soldiers,  and 
make  Massachusetts  submit  as  a  conquered  country.  Ven- 
geance was  to  be  especially  taken  on  "  the  insolent  town 
of  Boston."  As  the  Parliament  had  determined  to  send 
troops  to  the  colonies,  Bernard,  the  governor,  requested 
Colonel  Gage  to  bring  a  regiment  from  Halifax  to  Boston. 
On  a  quiet  Sabbath,  these  troops  were  landed  under  the  g^ 
cover  of  the  guns  of  their  vessels,  their  colors  flying, 
drums  beating,  and  bayonets  fixed,  as  if  they  had  taken 
possession  of  an  enemy's  town.  Neither  the  leaders  of 
the  people,  nor  the  people  themselves,  were  intimidated 
by  this  military  demonstration.  According  to  law,  troops 
could  be  lodged  in  Boston,  only  when  the  barracks  at  the 
forts  in  the  harbor  were  full.  The  Assembly  refused  the 
soldiers  quarters,  and  the  food  and  other  necessaries  which 
had  been  demanded.  The  royalists  gravely  thought  the 
Bostonians  "  had  come  within  a  hair's-breadth  of  commit- 
ting treason."  Gage  wrote,  "  It  is  of  no  use  to  argue  in 
this  country,  where  every  man  studies  law."  He  would 
enforce  obedience  without  delay. 

Boston  was  held  as  a  conquered  town  ;  sentinels  were 
placed  at  the  corners  of  the  streets,  and  citizens,  when 
passing  to  their  ordinary  business,  were  challenged  ;  even 
the  sacred  hours  of  the  Sabbath  were  not  free  from  the 


342  HISTOKY  OF  THE   AMERICAN  PEOPLE. 

chap,  din  of  drams.     A  collision  finally  took  place,  between  a 

1  citizen  and  a  soldier.     This  led  to  an  affray  between  the 

1770.  soldiers  and  some  rope-makers.  A  few  evenings  afterward 
2™  a  sentinel  was  assaulted  ;  soldiers  were  sent  to  his  aid, 
and  they  were  stoned  by  the  mob.  At  length  a  soldier 
fired  upon  their  assailants  ;  immediately  six  of  his  com- 
panions fired  also.  Three  persons  were  killed  and  five 
wounded.  The  town  was  thrown  into  a  state  of  great  ex- 
citement ;  in  an  hour's  time  the  alarm  bells  had  brought 
thousands  into  the  streets.  The  multitude  was  pacified, 
only  for  the  time,  by  the  assurance  of  Hutchinson,  who 
was  now  governor,  that  in  the  morning  justice  should  be 
done.  The  next  morning  the  people  demanded  that  the 
troops  should  be  removed  from  the  town  to  Castle  Wil- 
liam ;  and  that  Captain  Preston,  who,  it  was  said,  had 
commanded  his  soldiers  to  fire,  should  be  tried  for  murder. 
Both  these  requisitions  were  complied  with.  Captain 
Preston  and  six  of  his  men  were  arraigned  for  trial.  John 
Adams  and  Josiah  Quincy,  both  popular  leaders,  volun- 
teered to  defend  them.  They  were  acquitted  by  the  jury 
of  murder,  but  two  of  the  soldiers  were  found  guilty  of 
manslaughter. 

The  result  of  this  trial  had  a  good  effect  in  England. 
Contrary  to  the  slanders  of  their  enemies,  it  showed  that 
the  Bostonians,  in  the  midst  of  popular  excitement,  were 
actuated  by  principles  of  justice.  Those  citizens  who  had 
been  thus  killed  were  regarded  in  the  colonies  as  martyrs 
of  liberty. 

The  Virginia  Assembly  passed  resolutions  as  "  bad  as 
those  of  Massachusetts."  The  next  day,  the  governor, 
Lord  Boutetourte,  dissolved  the  house  for  passing  "  the 
L769  abominable  resolves'."  The  members  immediately  held  a 
May.  meeting,  at  which  Washington  presented  the  resolutions, 
drawn  up  by  himself  and  his  friend  George  Mason.  They 
were  a  draft  of  articles  of  association,  not  to  import  from 
Great  Britain  merchandise  that  was  taxed.     "  Such  was 


THE    KING    INSISTS   ON   TAXING   TEA.  343 

their  zeal  against  the  slave-trade,  they  made  a  special  Oj|AP, 

covenant  with  one  another  not  to  import  any  slaves,  nor  

purchase  any  imported."    To  these  resolutions  were  signed    1769 
the  names  of  Patrick  Henry,  Washington,  Jefferson,  Kich- 
ard  Henry  Lee,  and,  indeed,  of  all  the  members  of  the 
Assembly.     Then  they  were  sent  throughout  the  colony 
for  the  signature  of  every  man  in  it. 

The  non-importation  associations  produced  their  effect,  j?^ 
and  Lord  North,  who  was  now  prime  minister,  proposed 
to  remove  all  the  duties  except  that  on  tea.  That  was 
retained  at  the  express  command  of  the  king,  whose  maxim 
was,  "  that  there  should  be  always  one  tax,  at  least,  to 
keep  up  the  right  of  taxing."  This  removed  part  of  the 
difficulty,  for  which  the  colonists  were  thankful ;  but  they 
were  still  united  in  their  determination  not  to  import  tea. 
For  these  concessions  they  were  indebted  to  the  clamors 
of  those  English  merchants  whose  trade  had  been  injured. 
For  a  year  there  was  an  apparent  lull  in  the  storm  of 
popular  feeling. 

Governor  Hutchinson  issued  a  proclamation  for  a  day 
of  thanksgiving  ;  this  he  required  the  ministers  to  read 
from  their  pulpits  on  the  following  Sabbath.  He  thought 
to  entrap  them,  by  inserting  a  clause  acknowledging  grat- 
itude, "  that  civil  and  religious  liberty  were  continued," 
and  "  trade  encouraged."  But  he  sadly  mistook  the  men. 
The  ministers,  with  the  exception  of  one,  whose  church 
the  governor  himself  attended,  refused  to  read  the  proc- 
lamation, but,  on  the  contrary,  agreed  to  "  implore  of  Al- 
mighty God  the  restoration  of  lost  liberties." 

The  contest  had  continued  so  long  that  party  lines 
began  to  be  drawn.  Those  who  favored  the  iemands  of 
the  people,  were  called  Whigs  ;  those  who  sympathized 
with  the  government,  were  called  Tories.  These  terms 
had  been  long  in  use  in  England,  the  former  to  designate 
the  opposers  of  royalty  ;  the  latter  its  supporters. 

Scarcely  a  colony  was  exempt  from  outrages  commit- 


Jan. 


344  HISTOKY  OF  THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

chap,   ted  by  those  representing  the  royal  authority.     In  New 

York  the  people,  on  what  is  now  the  Park,  then  known  as 

1770.  the  Fields,  erected  a  liberty-pole.  They  were  accustomed 
to  assemble  there  and  discuss  the  affairs  of  the  colony. 
On  a  certain  night,  a  party  of  the  soldiers  stationed  in 
the  fort  cut  down  the  pole.  The  people  retaliated,  and 
frequent  quarrels  and  collisions  occurred.  Though  these 
disturbances  were  not  so  violent  as  those  in  Massachusetts, 
they  had  the  effect  of  exciting  in  the  people  intense  hatred 
of  the  soldiers,  as  the  tools  of  tyranny. 

An  armed  vessel,  the  Gaspe,  engaged  in  the  revenue 
service,  took  her  position  in  Narraganset  Bay,  and  in  an 
insulting  and  arbitrary  manner  enforced  the  customs. 
Sometimes  she  wantonly  compelled  the  passing  vessels 
and  market  boats  to  lower  their  colors  as  a  token  of  re- 
spect ;  sometimes  landed  companies  on  the  neighboring 
islands,  and  carried  off  hogs  and  sheep,  and  other  provi- 
sions. The  lieutenant  in  command  was  appealed  to  for  his 
authority  in  thus  acting.  He  referred  the  committee  to 
the  admiral,  stationed  at  Boston.  The  admiral  haughtily 
answered  :  "  The  lieutenant  is  fulfilling  bis  duty  ;  if  any 
persons  rescue  a  vessel  from  him,  I  will  hang  them  as 
pirates."  The  bold  sailors  and  citizens  matured  their 
1772.  plans  and  executed  them.  The  Providence  packet,  of  a 
"E* e  light  draught  and  a  fast  sailer,  was  passing  up  the  bay. 
The  Gaspe  hailed.  The  packet  paid  no  attention,  but 
passed  on.  Immediately  the  Gaspe  gave  chase.  The 
packet  designedly  ran  into  shoal  water  near  the  shore  ; 
the  Gaspe  followed,  and  was  soon  aground, — the  tide  go- 
ing out,  left  her  fast.  The  following  night  a  company  of 
men  went  down  in, boats,  boarded  her,  made  prisoners  of 
the  crew,  and  burned  the  vessel.  A  large  reward  was 
offered  for  the  perpetrators  of  this  bold  act ;  though  well 
known,  not  one  was  betrayed. 

The  warehouses  of  the  East  India  Company  were  rilled 
with  the  "  pernicious  weed,"  and  the  company  proposed 


A    TAX    IMPOSED    ON   TEA. 


345 


to  pay  all  its  duties  in  England,  and  then  export  it  at  ^^J- 
their  own  risk.    This  would  remove  the  difficulty,  as  there  , 

would  then  he  no  collections  of  the  duty  in  American  1772. 
ports.  But  the  king  was  unwilling  to  sacrifice  his  maxim, 
and  Lord  North  seems  to  have  been  incapable  of  compre- 
hending, that  the  Americans  refused  to  pay  the  duty  on 
tea,  not  because  it  was  great  or  small,  but  because  they 
looked  upon  a  tax  thus  imposed  as  unjust.  He  therefore 
virtually  proposed  to  the  company  to  pay  three-fourths  of 
the  duty  in  England  ;  to  save  the  king's  maxim,  the  gov- 
ernment would  collect  the  other  fourth,  or  three  pence  on 
a  pound,  in  America.  It  was  suggested  to  North,  that 
the  Americans  would  not  purchase  the  tea  on  those  con- 
ditions. He  replied :  "  It  is  to  no  purpose  the  making 
objections,  for  the  king  will  have  it  so.  The  king  means 
to  try  the  question  with  the  Americans."  *W* 

Meantime  public  opinion  in  the  colonies  was  becoming 
more  and  more  enlightened,  and  more  and  more  decided. 
"  We  must  have  a  convention  of  all  the  colonies,"  said 
Samuel  Adams.  And  he  sent  forth  circulars  inviting 
them  to  assert  their  rights,  when  there  was  a  prospect  of 
success.  He  saw  clearly  that  the  king  and  Parliament 
were  resolved  to  see  whether  the  Americans  would  or 
would  not  acknowledge  their  supremacy. 

When  the  conditions  became  known  on  which  tea  was 
to  be  imported,  the  people  took  measures  to  prevent  its 
being  either  landed  or  sold.  In  Philadelphia  they  held  a 
meeting,  and  requested  those  to  whom  the  tea  was  con- 
signed "  to  resign  their  appointments."  They  also  de- 
nounced "  as  an  enemy  to  his  country,"  "  whosoever  shall 
aid  or  abet  in  unloading,  receiving,  or  vending  the  tea." 
Similar  meetings  were  held  in  Charleston  and  New  York, 
and  similar  resolutions  were  passed. 

A  ship,  making  a  quick  passage,  arrived  at  Boston, 
with  intelligence  that  several  vessels  laden  with  tea  had 
sailed.     Five  thousand  men  immediately  assembled  to  de- 


346  HISTORY   OF  THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

ci|iP.   liberate  on  the  course  to   be    pursued.      On  motion  ol 

1  Samuel  Adams,  they  unanimously  resolved  to  send  the 

1773.  tea  back.  "  The  only  way  to  get  rid  of  it,"  shouted 
g  J"  some  one  in  the  crowd,  "  is  to  throw  it  overboard/'  Those 
to  whom  the  tea  had  been  consigned  were  invited  to  meet 
at  Liberty  Tree,  and  resign  their  appointments.  Two  of 
the  consignees  were  sons  of  Governor  Hutchinson,  who,  at 
that  time,  was  peculiarly  odious  on  account  of  his  double- 
dealing.  This  had  been  brought  to  light  by  a  number  of 
his  letters  to  persons  in  England.  These  letters  had 
fallen  into  the  hands  of  Dr.  Franklin,  who  sent  them  to 
the  Speaker  of  the  Massachusetts  Assembly.  They  dis- 
closed the  fact,  that  nearly  all  the  harsh  measures  directed 
against  the  colony,  had  been  suggested  by  Hutchinson. 

According  to  law,  a  ship  must  unload  within  twenty 
days,  or  be  seized  for  non-payment  of  duties. 

Presently  a  ship  laden  with  tea  came  into  the  harbor. 
By  order  of  the  committee,  it  was  moored  at  a  certain 
wharf,  and  a  company  of  twenty-five  men  volunteered  to 
guard  it.  The  owner  promised  to  take  the  cargo  back,  if 
the  governor  would  give  his  permit.  Meantime  came  two 
other  vessels  ;  they  were  ordered  to  anchor  beside  the  first. 
The  committee  waited  again  upon  the  consignees,  but 
their  answer  was  unsatisfactory.  When  the  committee 
made  their  report  to  the  meeting,  not  a  word  was  said  ; 
the  assemblage  silently  broke  up.  The  consignees  were 
^Sy*  terribly  alarmed.  That  silence  was  ominous.  Hutchin- 
son's two  sons  fled  to  the  fort,  to  the  protection  of  the 
regulars.  The  father  went  quietly  out  of  town.  His  ob- 
ject was  to  gain  time  till  the  twenty  days  should  ex- 
pire ;  then  the  ships  would  pass  into  the  hands  of  the 
Commissioners  of  Custom^  and  the  tea  would  be  safe  for 
his  sons. 

Another  meeting  of  the  people  was  protracted  till  after 
dark ;  on  the  morrow  the  twentieth  day  would  expire, 
and  the  tea  would  be  placed  beyond  their   reach.     At 


THE   DESTRUCTION   OF   THE   TEA.  347 

length  the  owner  of  the  vessel  returned  from  his  mission  chap. 
to  the  governor,  and  reported  that  he  would  not  give  the  , 
permit  for  the  ships  to  leave  the  port.     "  This  meeting,"    1773. 
announced  Samuel  Adams,  "  can  do  nothing  more  to  save 
the  country." 

Immediately  a  shout,  somewhat  like  a  war-whoop, 
arose  from  a  band  of  forty  or  fifty  "  very  dark  complex- 
ioned  nlen,  dressed  like  Mohawks,"  who  were  around  the 
door.  This  band  moved  hastily  down  to  the  wharf  where 
lay  the  tea  ships.  Placing  a  guard  to  protect  them  from  Dec. 
spies,  they  went  on  board  and  took  out  three  hundred  and 
forty-two  chests,  broke  them  open,  and  poured  the  tea 
into  the  water.  In  silence  the  crowd  on  shore  witnessed 
the  affair  ;  when  the  work  was  accomplished,  they  quietly 
retired  to  their  homes.  Paul  Kevere  set  out  immediately 
to  carry  the  news  to  New  York  and  Philadelphia. 

At  New  York,  a  tea  ship  was  sent  back  with  her  j>e<J 
cargo  ;  the  captain  was  escorted  out  of  the  city  by  the  25. 
Committee  of  Vigilance,  with  banners  flying  and  a  band 
playing  God  save  the  king.  Eighteen  chests  of  tea,  found 
concealed  on  board  another  vessel,  were  thrown  into  the 
dock.  In  Charleston  tea  was  permitted  to  be  landed, 
but  was  stowed  in  damp  cellars,  where  it  spoiled.  The 
captain  of  the  vessel  bound  for  Philadelphia,  when  four 
miles  below  the  city,  learned  that  the  citizens  would  not 
permit  him  to  land  his  cargo  ;  he  prudently  returned  to 
England.  At  Annapolis,  a  ship  and  its  cargo  were  both 
burned  ;  the  owner,  to  allay  the  excitement,  himself  ap- 
plying the  torch. 

Meantime  the  various  committees  of  correspondence 
were  making  preparations  to  hold  a  congress  composed  of 
representatives  from  all  the  colonies.  Yet  they  said, 
and  no  doubt  honestly,  that  "their  old  good-will  and 
affection  for  the  parent  country  were  not  totally  lost" 
1 '  If  she  returned  to  her  former  moderation  and  good  hu- 
mor, their  affection  would  revive." 


348  HISTORY   OF  THE    AMERICAN  PEOPLE. 

cg|P.         When  it  became  known  in  England  that  the  auda- 

_'  cious  colonists  would  not  even  permit  the  tea  to  be  landed, 

1774.  the  king  and  ministry  determined  to  make  their  powei 
felt ;  and  especially  to  make  an  example  of  Boston.  Ac- 
cordingly a  bill  was  introduced  and  passed  in  Parliament, 
four  to  one,  to  close  her  port  to  all  commerce,  and  to 
transfer  the  seat  of  government  to  Salem.  Though  her 
June,  citizens  offered  remuneration  for  the  tea  destroyed,  yet 
Massachusetts  must  be  punished  ;  made  an  example,  to 
deter  other  outbreaks.  Parliament  immediately  passed  a 
series  of  laws  which  violated  her  charter  and  took  away 
her  privileges.  The  Port  Bill,  it  was  complacently  prophe- 
sied, will  make  Boston  submit ;  she  will  yet  come  as  a 
penitent,  and  promise  obedience  to  British  laws. 

Parliament  went  still  further,  and  passed  other  laws  ; 
one  for  quartering  soldiers,  at  the  people's  expense,  on  all 
the  colonies,  and  another  in  connection  with  it,  by  which 
officers,  who,  in  enforcing  this  particular  law,  should  com- 
mit acts  of  violence,  were  to  be  taken  to  England,  and 
tried  there  for  the  offence.  This  clause  would  encourage 
arbitrary  acts,  and  render  military  and  official  insolence 
still  more  intolerable.  To  these  was  added  another  law, 
known  as  the  Quebec  act ;  it  granted  unusual  concessions 
to  the  Catholics  of  Canada — a  stroke  of  policy,  if  war 
should  occur  between  the  colonies  and  the  mother  country. 
This  act  revived  much  of  the  old  Protestant  feeling  latent 
in  the  minds  of  the  people.  These  laws,  opposed  by  many 
in  Parliament  as  unnecessary  and  tyrannical,  excited  in 
America  a  deep  feeling  of  indignation  against  the  English 
government. 

Everywhere  Boston  met  with  sympathy.  The  town  of 
Salem  refused  to  accept  the  proffered  boon  of  becoming 
the  seat  of  government  at  the  expense  of  her  neighbor, 
and  Marblehead  offered  her  port,  free  of  charge,  to  the 
merchants  of  Boston.  In  that  city  great  distress  was  ex- 
perienced ;  multitudes,  who  depended    upon   the   daily 


BOSTON    MEETS   WITH    SYMPATHY.  349 

labor  they  obtained  from  commerce,  were  out  of  employ-  chap . 

ment,  and  their  families  suffered.     The  different  colonies 1 

sent  to  their  aid  provisions  and  money  ;  these  were  accom-  1774. 
panied  by  words  of  encouragement,  to  stand  firm  in  the 
righteous  cause.  The  ordinary  necessaries  of  life  came 
from  their  neighbors  of  New  England.  "  The  patriotic 
and  generous  people "  of  South  Carolina  sent  them  two 
imndred  barrels  of  rice,  and  promised  eight  hundred  more, 
but  urged  them  "  not  to  pay  for  an  ounce  of  the  tea." 
In  North  Carolina  "  two  thousand  pounds  were  raised  by 
subscription "  and  sent.  Virginia  and  Maryland  vied 
with  each  other  in  the  good  work.  Washington  presided 
at  a  meeting  of  sympathizers,  and  subscribed  himself  fifty 
pounds  ;  and  even  the  farmers  on  the  western  frontiers  of 
the  Old  Dominion  sent  one  hundred  and  thirty-seven  bar- 
rels of  flour. 

These  patriots  were  determined  "  that  the  men  of 
Boston,  who  were  deprived  of  their  daily  labor,  should  not 
lose  their  daily  bread,  nor  be  compelled  to  change  their 
residence  for  want."  ■ 

Even  the  citizens  of  Quebec,  French  and  English,  by 
joint  effort  sent  them  more  than  a  thousand  bushels  of 
wheat,  while  in  London  itself  one  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand dollars  were  subscribed  for  their  benefit.  Notwith- 
standing all  this  distress  no  riot  or  outbreak  occurred 
among  the  people. 

General  Gage  was  now  Commander-in-chief  of  the 
British  army  in  America,  and  had  been  recently  appointed 
governor,  in  place  of  Hutchinson.  He  was  sadly  at  a  loss 
how  to  manage  the  Bostonians.  If  they  would  only  vio- 
late the  law,  he  could  exercise  his  civil  as  well  as  his  mili- 
tary authority.  They  held  meetings,  from  time  to  time, 
and  freely  discussed  their  public  affairs.    They  were  under 

1  Bancroft,  vol.  vii,  p.  75. 


350  HISTORY   OF   THE    AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

xxvl  *^e  con*ro^  °^  leaders  who  never  lost  their  self-possession, 
,  nor  transcended  their  constitutional  rights.     The  govern- 

1774.  ment,  thinking  to  avoid  the  evil,  forhade  them  to  hold  such 
meetings,  after  a  certain  day.  They  evaded  the  law  "  by 
convoking  the  meetings  before  that  day,  and  keeping  them 
alive."  "  Faneuil  Hall  was  at  times  unable  to  hold  them, 
and  they  swarmed  from  that  revolutionary  hive  into  Old 
South  Church.  The  Liberty  Tree  became  a  rallying 
place  for  any  popular  movement,  and  a  flag  hoisted  on  it 
was  saluted  by  all  processions  as  the  emblem  of  the  popu- 
lar cause."  ' 

During  this  time,  the  people  throughout  the  colonies 
held  conventions  and  chose  delegates  to  the  General  Con- 
gress about  to  meet  at  Philadelphia.  One  of  these  meet- 
ings, held  in  the  "  Fields  M  in  New  York,  was  addressed 
by  a  youth  of  seventeen.  The  stripling  charmed  his  hear- 
ers by  his  fervor,  as  he  grappled  with  the  question  and 
presented  with  clearness  the  main  points  at  issue.  When 
he  closed,  a  whisper  ran  through  the  crowd,  "  It  is  a  col- 
legian." The  youth  was  Alexander  Hamilton,  a  native 
of  St.  Kitts,  of  Scotch  and  French  descent,  his  mother  a 
Huguenot.  The  son  combined  the  caution  of  the  Scot 
with  the  vivacity  of  the  Gaul.  At  an  early  age  he  lost 
his  mother,  whose  memory  he  cherished  with  the  greatest 
devotion.  "A  father's  care  he  seems  never  to  have 
known."  At  the  age  of  twelve  he  was  thrown  upon  the 
world  to  depend  upon  his  own  resources.  He  came  to 
Boston,  and  thence  to  New  York,  where  he  found  means 
to  enter  King's,  since  Columbia  College.  He  had  been 
known  to  the  people  simply  as  the  West  Indian,  who 
walked  under  the  trees  in  the  college  green,  and  uncon- 
scious of  the  observation  of  others,  talked  to  himself. 
Henceforth  a  brilliant  mind  and  untiring  energies  were  to 
be  consecrated  to  the  welfare  of  the  land  that  had  adopted 
the  orphan. 

1  Washington  Irvine. 


4/  6L  ^yo^j^T'^La^yy^^ 


THE   OLD   CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS.  351 

When  the  time  came  for  the  meeting  of  the  General  ceap. 

Congress,  known  as  the  Old  Continental  Congress,  fifty-  , 

five  delegates  assembled  in  the  Carpenters'  Hall,  in  the    1774 
city  of  Philadelphia.     Every  colony  was  represented,  ex-      gP 
cept  Georgia,  Martin,  the  royalist  governor,  had  prevented 
delegates  from  being  chosen. 

Here  for  the  first  time  assembled  the  most  eminent 
men  of  the  colonies.  They  held  in  their  hands,  under  the 
Great  Disposer  of  all  things,  the  destinies  of  a  people  num- 
bering nearly  three  millions.  Here  were  names  now  sacred 
in  the  memories  of  Americans.  George  Washington, 
Patrick  Henry,  Richard  Henry  Lee,  Edward  and  John 
Rutledge,  Gadsden,  Samuel  Adams,  John  Adams,  Roger 
Sherman,  Philip  Livingston,  John  Jay,  William  Living- 
ston, Br.  Withoropoon,  President  of  Princeton  College,  a 
Scotch  Presbyterian  minister,  who  had  come  over  some 
years  before,  but  was  said  to  be  "  as  high  a  son  of  liberty 
as  any  man  in  America,,;  and  others  of  lesser  note,  but 
no  less  patriotism.  They  had  corresponded  with  each 
other,  and  exchanged  views  on  the  subject  of  their  coun- 
try's wrongs  ;  they  had  sympathized  as  brethren,  though 
many  of  them  were  to  each  other  personally  unknown.  It 
was  a  momentous  crisis,  and  they  felt  the  responsibility 
of  their  position. 

The  House  was  organized  by  electing  the  aged  Peyton 
Randolph,  of  Virginia,  Speaker,  and  Charles  Thomson,  of 
Pennsylvania,  Secretary.  A  native  of  Ireland,  when  a 
youth  he  came  to  America.  He  was  principal  of  the 
Quaker  High  School  in  Philadelphia,  and  was  proverbial 
for  his  truth  and  honesty. 

It  was  suggested  that  it  would  be  becoming  to  open 
their  sessions  with  prayer.  This  proposition  was-  thought 
by  some  to  be  inexpedient,  since  perhaps  the  delegates 
could  not  all  join  in  the  same  form  of  worship.  At  length 
Samuel  Adams,  who  was  a  strict  Congregationalist,  arose 
and  said  :  "  I  will  willingly  join  in  prayer  with  any  gen- 


352  HISTOKY   OF  THE   AMEEICA^  PEOPLE. 

cg^P-    tleman  of  piety  and  virtue,  whatever  may  be  his  cloth 

provided  he  is  a  friend  of  his  country."     On  his  motion, 

1774.  the  Kev.  Mr.  Duche,  a  popular  Episcopal  clergyman,  of 
Philadelphia,  was  invited  to  officiate  as  chaplain.  Mr. 
Duche  accepted  the  invitation.  A  rumor,  in  the  mean 
time,  reached  Philadelphia  that  General  Gage  had  bom- 
barded Boston.  When  the  Congress  assembled  the  next 
morning,  anxiety  and  sympathy  were  depicted  on  every 
countenance.  The  rumor,  though  it  proved  to  be  false, 
excited  feelings  of  brotherhood,  hitherto  unknown. 

The  chaplain  read  the  thirty-fifth  psalm,  and  then, 
carried  away  by  his  emotions,  burst  forth  into  an  extem- 
porary prayer  to  the  Lord  of  Hosts  to  be  their  helper. 
"  It  seemed,"  says  John  Adams,  in  a  letter  to  his  wife, 
"  as  if  Heaven  had  ordained  that  psalm  to  be  read  on  that 
morning.  He  prayed,  in  language  eloquent  and  sublime, 
for  America,  for  the  Congress,  for  the  province  of  Massa- 
chusetts Bay,  and  especially  for  the  town  of  Boston.  It 
has  had  an  excellent  effect  upon  everybody  here." 

When  the  prayer  was  closed,  a  long  and  death-like 
silence  ensued,  as  if  each  one  hesitated  "  to  open  a  busi- 
ness so  momentous."  At  length  Patrick  Hemy  slowly 
arose,  faltering  at  first,  "  as  if  borne  down  by  the  weight 
of  his  subject ; "  but  the  fires  of  his  wonted  eloquence  be- 
gan to  glow,  as  he  recited  the  colonial  wrongs  already 
endured,  and  foretold  those  yet  to  come.  "  Kising,  as  he 
advanced,  with  the  grandeur  of  his  subject,  and  glowing 
at  length  with  all  the  majesty  and  expectation  of  the 
occasion,  his  speech  seemed  more  than  that  of  mortal 
man."  He  inspired  the  entire  Congress  with  his  liberal 
sentiments ;  they  found  a  response  in  every  heart  when 
he  exclaimed  :  "  British  oppression  has  effaced  the  boun- 
daries of  the  several  colonies ;  the  distinctions  between 
Virginians,  Pennsylvanians,  New  Yorkers,  and  New  Eng- 
enders, are  no  more.  I  am  not  a  Virginian,  but  an 
American."      When   he  closed,  the   members   were   noi 


THE   PAPERS   ISSUED   BY   CONGRESS.  353 

merely  astonished  at   his  matchless  eloquence,  but  the  £5£* 
importance  of  the  subject  had  overwhelmed  them.  


The  Congress  appointed  a  committee,  which  drew  up 
a  "  Declaration  of  Eights."  In  this  they  enumerated 
their  natural  rights  to  the  enjoyment  of  life,  liberty,  and 
property  ;  as  British  subjects,  they  claimed  to  participate 
in  making  their  own  laws  ;  in-imposing  their  own  taxes  ; 
the  right  of  trial  by  jury  in  the  vicinage  ;  of  holding  pub- 
lic meetings,  and  of  petitioning  for  redress  of  grievances. 
They  protested  against  a  standing  army  in  the  colonies 
without  their  consent,  and  against  eleven  acts  passed  since' 
the  accession  of  George  III.,  as  violating  the  rights  of  the 
colonies.  It  was  added,  "To  these  grievous  acts  and 
measures  Americans  cannot  submit." 

To  obtain  redress  they  resolved  to  enter  upon  peacea- 
ble measures.  They  agreed  to  form  an  "American  Asso- 
ciation," in  whose  articles  they  pledged  themselves  not  to 
trade  with  Great  Britain  or  the  West  Indies,  nor  with 
those  engaged  in  the  slave-trade — which  was  especially 
denounced — not  to  use  British  goods  or  tea,  and  not  to 
trade  with  any  colony  which  would  refuse  to  join  the  asso- 
ciation. Committees  were  to  be  appointed  in  the  various 
districts  to  see  that  these  articles  were  strictly  carried  into 
effect. 

Elaborate  papers  were  also  issued,  in  which  the  views 
of  the  Congress  were  set  forth  still  more  fully.  A  petition 
to  the  king  was  written  by  John  Dickinson,  of  Pennsylva- 
nia ;  he  also  wrote  an  Address  to  the  people  of  Canada. 
The  Memorial  to  the  people  of  the  colonies  was  written 
by  Richard  Henry  Lee,  of  Virginia,  and  the  Address  to 
the  people  of  Great  Britain  by  John  Jay,  of  New  York. 

Every  measure  was  carefully  discussed,  and  though  on 
some  points  there  was  much  diversity  of  opinion,  yet,  as 
Congress  sat  with  closed  doors,  only  the  results  of  these 
discussions  went  forth  to  the  country,  embodied  in  resolu- 


1774, 


354  HISTORY  OF   THE   AMERICAN  PEOPLE. 

chap,  tions,  and  signed  by  the  members.    These  papers  attracted 

1  the  attention  of  thinking  men  in  England.     Said  Chat- 

1774.  ham,  "When  your  lordships  look  at  the  papers  trans- 
mitted to  us  from  America ;  when  you  consider  their 
decency,  firmness,  and  wisdom,  you  cannot  but  respect 
their  cause,  and  wish  to  make  it  your  own.  For  myself, 
I  must  avow,  and  I  have  studied  the  master  states  of  the 
world,  I  know  not  the  people,  or  senate,  who,  for  solidity 
of  reason,  force  of  sagacity,  and  wisdom  of  conclusion, 
under  such  a  complication  of  difficult  circumstances,  can 
stand  in  preference  to  the  delegates  of  America  assembled 
In  General  Congress  at  Philadelphia.  The  histories  of 
Greece  and  Kome  give  us  nothing  equal  to  it,  and  al] 
attempts  to  impose  servitude  upon  such  a  mighty  conti- 
nental nation,  must  be  vain." 


CHAPTER    XXVII. 

COMMENCEMENT   OP   THE   REVOLUTION. 

The  Spirit  of  the  People. — Gage  alarmed. — The  People  seize  jGuns  and  Am- 
munition.— The  Massachusetts  Provincial  Congress ;  its  Measures. — 
Parliament  passes  the  Restraining  Bill. — Conflicts  at  Lexington  and 
Concord. — Volunteers  fly  to  Arms,  and  beleaguer  Boston. — Stark. — 
Putnam. — Benedict  Arnold. — Ethan  Allen  and  the  Green  Mountain 
Boys. — Capture  of  Ticonderoga. — Lord  Dunmore  in  Virginia. — Patrick 
Henry  and  the  Independent  Companies. — The  News  from  Lexington 
rouses  a  Spirit  of  Resistance. — The  second  Continental  Congress ;  it 
takes  decisive  Measures ;  adopts  the  Army  before  Boston,  and  ap- 
points Washington  Commander-in-chief. 

While  Congress  was  yet  in  session,  affairs  began  to  wear  ^yR 

a  serious  aspect  in  and  around  Boston.     The  people  were  , 

practising  military  exercises.  Every  village  and  district  1774. 
had  its  company  of  minute-men — men  pledged  to  each 
other  to  be  ready  for  action  at  a  minute's  warning.  Eng- 
land soon  furnished  them  an  occasion.  The  ministry  pro- 
hibited the  exportation  of  military  stores  to  America,  and 
sent  secret  orders  to  the  royal  governors,  to  seize  all  the 
arms  and  gunpowder  in  the  magazines.  Gage  complied 
with  these  orders.  When  it  became  known  that  he  had 
secretly  sent  a  company  of  soldiers  by  night,  who  had 
seized  the  powder  in  the  arsenal  at  Charlestown,  and  con- 
veyed it  to  Castle  William,  the  minute-men  assembled  at 
once.  Their  eagerness  to  go  to  the  governor  and  compel 
him  to  restore  it  to  the  arsenal  could  scarcely  be  restrained. 
Ere  long  various  rumors  were  rife  in  the  country — that 
Boston  was  to  be  attacked  ;  that  the  fleet  was  bombarding 


356  HISTORY   OF  THE    AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

chap,   it  •  that  the  soldiers  were  shooting  down  the  citizens  in  its 
.  streets.     Thousands  of  the  sturdy  yeomanry  of  Massa- 

1774.  chusetts  and  Connecticut  credited  these  rumors  ;  they 
left  their  farms  and  their  shops,  and  hastened  to  the  res- 
cue. Before  they  had  advanced  far  they  learned  that  the 
reports  were  untrue.  General  Gage  was  alarmed  hy  this 
significant  movement ;  he  did  not  apprehend  its  full  im- 
port, neither  did  he  rightly  discern  the  signs  of  the  times, 
nor  read  the  spirit  of  the  people  ;  he  was  a  soldier,  and 
understood  the  power  that  lies  in  soldiers  and  fortifications, 
but  knew  nothing  of  the  power  of  free  principles.  He 
determined  to  fortify  the  neck  which  connects  Boston  with 
the  mainland,  and  place  there  a  regiment,  to  cut  off  all 
communication  between  the  people  in  the  country  and 
those  in  the  town. 

1774.         Intelligence  of  these  proceedings  spread  rapidly  through 

Dec-  the  land.  The  people  took  possession  of  the  arsenal  at 
Charlestown,  from  which  the  powder  had  been  removed. 
At  Portsmouth,  in  New  Hampshire,  a  company,  led  by 
John  Sullivan,  afterward  a  major-general,  captured  the 
fort,  and  carried  off  one  hundred  barrels  of  powder  and 
some  cannon.  At  Newport,  in  the  absence  of  the  men-of- 
war,  forty-four  pieces  of  artillery  were  seized  and  conveyed 
to  Providence.  In  Connecticut,  the  Assembly  enjoined 
upon  the  towns  to  lay  in  a  double  supply  of  ammunition, 
to  mount  their  cannon,  and  to  train  the  militia  frequently. 
This  spirit  was  not  confined  to  New  England,  but  pre- 
vailed in  the  middle  and  southern  colonies,  where  the  peo- 
ple took  energetic  measures  to  put  themselves  in  a  posture 
of  defence. 

In  the  midst  o/  this  commotion,  Gage,  thinking  to 
conciliate,  summoned    the    Massachusetts  Assembly  to 

Oct.    meet  at  Salem  ;  but,  alarmed  at  the  spirit  manifested  at 
c*      the  town  meetings  in  the  province,  he  countermanded  the 
order.     The  Assembly,  however,  met ;  and  as  no  one  ap- 
peared to  administer  the  oaths,  and  open  the  session,  the 


MASSACHUSETTS    ADOPTS   DECIDED    MEASURES.  357 

members  adjourned  to  Concord,  and  there  organized  as  a  £!££ 

Provincial  Congress.     They  elected  John  Hancock  Presi- 

dent,  and   Benjamin  Lincoln  Secretary.     Lincoln  was  a    1774, 
farmer,  and  afterward  became  an  efficient  major-general 
in  the  revolutionary  army.     This  was  the  first  provincial 
Assembly  organized  independently  of  royal  authority. 

They  sent  an  address  to  G-age,  in  which  they  com- 
plained of  the  recent  acts  of  Parliament  ;  of  his  own  high- 
handed measures  ;  of  his  fortifying  Boston  Neck,  and 
requested  him  to  desist ;  at  the  same  time  they  protested 
their  loyalty  to  the  king,  and  their  desire  for  peace  and 
order.  Gage  replied  that  he  was  acting  in  self-defence, 
and  admonished  them  to  desist  from  their  own  unlawful 
proceedings. 

The  Assembly  disregarded  the  admomtion,  went  quiet- 
ly to  work,  appointed  two  committees,  one  of  safety,  and 
the  other  of  supplies, — the  former  was  empowered  to 
call  out  the  minute-men,  when  it  was  necessaiy,  and  the 
latter  to  supply  them  with  provisions  of  all  kinds.  They 
then  appointed  two  general  officers — Artemas  Ward,  one 
of  the  judges  of  the  court,  and  Seth  Pomeroy,  a  veteran 
of  threescore  and  ten,  who  had  seen  service  in  the  French 
war.  They  resolved  to  enlist  twelve  thousand  minute- 
men,  and  invited  the  other  New  England  colonies  to  in- 
crease the  number  to  twenty  thousand.  The  note  of  alarm 
was  everywhere  heard  ;  preparations  for  defence  were 
everywhere  apparent.  In  Virginia  the  militia  companies 
burnished  their  arms  and  practised  their  exercises.  Wash- 
ington, their  highest  military  authority,  was  invited,  and 
often  visited  different  parts  of  the  country,  to  inspect  these 
volunteers  on  their  review  days. 

The  attention  of  all  was  now  turned  to  the  new  Par-    177ft 
liament  about  to  assemble.     To  some  extent,  a  change    **?- 
had  come  over  the  minds  of  many  of  the  English  people  ; 
the  religious  sympathies  of  the  Dissenters  were  specially 
enlisted  in  favor  of  the  colonists.     The  papers  issued  by 


358  HISTOEY   OF  THE    AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

chap,  the  Continental  Congress  had  been  published  and  circu- 

.  lated  extensively  in  England,  by  the  exertions  of  Franklin 

1775.  and  others.  Their  plain,  unvarnished  statements  of  facts, 
and  their  claim  for  the  colonists  to  enjoy  British  as  well 
as  natural  rights,  had  elicited  sympathy. 
.-  Chatham,  though  much  enfeebled,  hurried  up  to  Lon- 
don to  plead  once  more  for  American  rights.  He  brought 
in  a  bill,  which  he  hoped  would  remove  the  difficulties  ; 
but  the  House  spurned  every  scheme  of  reconciliation 
short  of  absolute  submission  on  the  part  of  the  colonists. 
Lord  North,  urged  on  by  his  colleagues  in  the  ministry, 
whom  he  had  not  strength  of  will  to  resist,  went  further 
than  ever.  The  Boston  Port  Bill  had  not  accomplished 
its  design  ;  and  now  he  introduced  what  was  termed  the 
New  England  Kestraining  Bill,  which  deprived  the  people 
of  those  colonies  of  the  privilege  of  fishing  on  the  banks 
of  Newfoundland.  He  declared  Massachusetts  was  in 
rebellion,  and  the  other  colonies,  by  their  associations, 
were  aiding  and  abetting  her.  Parliament  pledged  itself 
to  aid  the  king  in  maintaining  his  authority. 
Mar.  The  next  month  came  intelligence  to  England,  that 

the  Colonial  Assemblies  had  not  only  approved  the  reso- 
lutions of  the  Continental  Congress,  but  had  determined 
to  support  them.  To  punish  them  for  this  audacity,  Par- 
liament passed  a  second  Kestraining  Act,  to  apply  to  all 
the  colonies  except  New  York,  Delaware,  and  North  Car- 
olina. The  object  of  this  mark  of  favor  signally  failed  ; 
these  colonies  could  not  be  bribed  to  desert  their  sisters. 

General  Gage  had  learned,  by  means  of  spies,  that  at 
Concord,  eighteen  miles  from  Boston,  the  patriots  had 
collected  ammunition  and  military  stores.  These  he  de- 
termined to  destroy.  His  preparations  were  made  with 
the  greatest  secrecy ;  but  the  Sons  of  Liberty  were  vigi- 
lant. Dr.  Warren,  one  of  the  committee  of  safety,  noticed 
the  unusual  stir ;  the  collection  of  boats  at  certain  points  ; 


LEXINGTON. 


359 


tbnt  the  light  infantry  and  grenadiers  were  taken  off  duty.  £|^ 

He  sent  information  of  what  he  had  seen  and  suspected  

to  John  Hancock  and  Samuel  Adams,  who  were  at  Lex-  1775. 
ington.  It  was  rightly  surmised  that  Concord  was  the 
object  of  the  intended  expedition.  It  was  to  leave  Boston 
on  the  night  of  the  eighteenth  of  April ;  on  that  day  18. 
Gage  issued  orders  forbidding  any  one  to  leave  the  town 
after  dark.  Again  the  vigilance  of  Warren  had  antici- 
pated him.  Before  his  order  could  go  into  effect,  Paul 
Revere  and  William  Dawes,  two  swift  and  trusty  messen- 
gers, were  on  the  way  to  the  country,  by  different  routes. 
A  lantern  held  out  from  the  steeple  of  the  North  Church — 
the  concerted  signal  to  the  patriots  in  Charlestown — 
warned  them  that  something  unusual  was  going  on.  Mes- 
sengers from  that  place  hurried  to  rouse  the  country. 

About  ten  o'clock,  under  cover  of  the  darkness,  eight 
or  nine  hundred  men,  light  infantry  and  grenadiers,  em- 
barked and  crossed  to  Cambridge,  and  thence,  with  as 
little  noise  as  possible,  took  up  their  line  of  march.  To 
their  surprise  they  heard  in  advance  of  them  the  tolling 
of  bells,  and  the  firing  of  alarm  guns  ;  evidently  they 
were  discovered.  Lieutenant-colonel  Smith  sent  back  to 
Gage  for  reinforcements,  and  also  ordered  Major  Pitcairn 
to  press  forward,  and  seize  the  two  bridges  at  Concord. 
Pitcairn  advanced  rapidly  and  arrested  every  person  he 
met  or  overtook,  but  a  countryman,  who  evaded  him, 
spurred  on  to  Lexington,  and  gave  the  alarm.  At  dawn 
of  day  Pitcairn's  division  reached  that  place.  Seventy 
or  eighty  minute-men,  with  some  other  persons,  were  on 
the  green.  They  were  uncertain  as  to  the  object  of  the 
British.  It  was  thought  they  wished  to  arrest  Hancock  jj 
and  Adams,  both  of  whom  had  left  the  place.  Pitcairn 
ordered  his  men  to  halt  and  load  their  muskets  ;  then 
riding  up  he  cried  out, — "  Disperse,  you  rebels."  "  Down 
with  your  arms,  you  villains,  and  disperse,"  was  echoed 
by  his  officers.     Confusion  ensued  ;  random  shots  were 


360  HISTOKY   OF  THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

chaf    fired  on  both  sides  ;  then,  by  a  volley  from  the  British, 

, seven  men  were  killed  and  nine  wounded.     The  Ameri- 

*776.  cans  dispersed,  and  the  British  soldiers  gave  three  cheers 
for  their  victory  !  By  whom  the  first  shot  was  fired  is 
uncertain.  Each  party  charged  it  upon  the  other.  Be 
that  as  it  may,  here  was  commenced  the  eight  years'  war 
of  the  revolution. 

Presently  Colonel  Smith  came  up,  and  in  half  an  hour 
the  entire  body  moved  on  toward  Concord,  six  miles  dis- 
tant. Information  of  the  firing  at  Lexington  had  already 
reached  that  place.  The  minute-men  were  assembled  on 
the  green  near  the  church.  About  seven  o'clock  the  ene- 
my appeared,  in  two  divisions.  The  minute-men  retreated 
across  a  bridge  to  the  top  of  a  neighboring  hill.  The 
British  placed  a  strong  guard  at  the  bridge,  and  spent 
two  hours  in  destroying  what  stores  they  could  find,  as  the 
greater  part  had  been  concealed,  and  pillaging  some  private 
dwellings.  Meantime  the  little  company  on  the  hill  in- 
creased rapidly,  and  soon  it  numbered  about  four  hundred 
and  fifty.  They  advanced  upon  the  guard,  who  fired  upon 
them,  and  skirmishing  commenced.  As  the  British  began 
to  retreat  they  were  followed  by  an  irregular  and  galling 
fire  from  behind  trees,  and  fences,  and  houses.  In  vain 
they  sent  flanking-parties  to  free  themselves  from  their 
assailants,  who  were  increasing  every  minute  ;  the  nimble 
yeomanry  would  retire  before  these  parties,  only  to  appear 
at  a  more  favorable  point.  Colonel  Smith  was  severely 
wounded,  and  many  of  his  men  killed.  He  had  consumed 
more  than  two  hours  in  retreating  to  Lexington  ;  there, 
fortunately  for  him,  Lord  Percy,  who  insultingly  had 
marched  out  of  Boston  to  the  tune  of  Yankee  Doodle, 
met  him  with  a  thousand  men  and  two  field-pieces.  The 
fainting  and  exhausted  troops  were  received  in  a  hollow 
square,  where  they  rested,  while  the  fresh  soldiers  kept  the 
indomitable  "  rebels  "  at  bay  with  their  field-pieces. 

While  the  enemy  were  thus  halting,  General  Heath, 


BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN 


THE    HASTY    RETREAT VOLUNTEERS    FLY    TO    ARMS.  361 

whom  the   Massachusetts  Provincial   Congress   had  ap-    chap 
pointed   to  command  the  minute-men,  came  upon  the  , 

ground,  and  also  Dr.  Warren.  They  directed  the  Ameri-  1775. 
cans,  whose  attacks  were  now  more  in  concert,  but  still 
irregular.  The  British  set  fire  to  dwellings  in  Lexington, 
then  renewed  their  retreat,  pillaging  and  burning  as  they 
went.  The  Americans,  greatly  exasperated,  harassed  them 
at  every  step.  Lord  Percy's  condition  became  very  criti- 
cal. The  country  was  roused  ;  new  assailants  poured  in 
from  every  side  ;  every  moment  he  was  more  and  more 
encumbered  by  the  number  of  the  wounded,  while  his  am- 
munition was  nearly  exhausted.  Had  he  been  delayed  an 
hour  longer,  his  retreat  would  have  been  cut  off  by  a  pow- 
erful force  from  Marblehead  and  Salem.  "  If  the  retreat," 
writes  Washington,  "had  not  been  as  precipitate  as  it 
was — and  God  knows  it  could  not  well  have  been  more 
so — the  ministerial  troops  must  have  surrendered,  or  been 
totally  cut  off."  In  this  affair,  about  eighty  of  the  Ameri- 
cans were  killed  or  wounded,  and  of  the  British  nearly 
three  hundred. 

Intelligence  of  this  conflict  spread  rapidly  through  the 
country  ;  couriers  hastened  from  colony  to  colony.  In 
New  England,  volunteers  flew  to  arms,  and  in  ten  days 
an  irregular  army  completely  blockaded  the  British  in 
Boston,  by  a  line  of  encampments,  that  extended  from 
Koxbury  to  beyond  Charlestown — a  distance  of  nine  miles. 
The  fire  of  other  days  glowed  in  the  breasts  of  the  old 
campaigners  of  the  French  war, — none  were  more  ready 
than  they.  John  Stark,  whom  we  have  seen  leading  his 
men  in  that  war,  waited  not  for  invitation  nor  commission ; 
in  ten  minutes  after  he  heard  the  news  he  was  on  his  way. 
Israel  Putnam,  another  name  associated  with  deeds  of 
daring  in  French  and  Indian  warfare,  was  laboring  in  his 
field  when  the  courier  passed  along.  He  left  the  work, 
mounted  a  horse,  roused  his  neighbors,  and,  without 
changing  his  clothes,  hastened  to  Boston.     Putnam  was 


362  HISTORY  OF  THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE. 

xxvFl  a  na*^ve  °^  Salem,  Massachusetts,  but  for  many  years  a 

resident  of  Connecticut.     Though  now  almost  sixty  years 

1775.  of  age,  he  was  buoyant  in  spirits  as  a  boy,  impulsive  and 
frank  as  he  was  fearless,  and  too  generous  to  suspect 
others  of  guile. 

At  this  crisis,  the  Massachusetts  Congress  took  ener- 
getic measures.  A  regiment  of  artillery  was  formed,  the 
command  of  which  was  given  to  the  aged  Gridley,  who, 
thirty  years  before,  commanded  the  artillery  at  the  taking 
of  Louisburg.  In  the  other  colonies,  the  people  were  not 
inactive  ;  they  seized  arms  and  ammunition  wherever 
found,  repudiated  the  royal  authority,  and  each  for  itself 
called  a  Provincial  Congress. 

It  was  suggested  to  the  Massachusetts  Committee  of 
Safety  to  seize  the  two  posts,  Ticonderoga  and  Crown 
Point,  on  Lake  Champlain,  and  thus  secure  the  u  key  of 
Canada,"  as  well  as  the  cannon  and  other  military  stores ' 
there  deposited.  Benedict  Arnold,  who  commanded  a 
company  in  the  camp  beilre  Boston,  entered  into  the  proj- 
ect with  great  ardor.  Arnold  was  a  man  of  impulsive 
temper,  petulant,  headstrong,  and  reckless  of  danger  ;  he 
thirsted  for  an  opportunity  to  distinguish  himself.  The 
Committee  gave  him  the  commission  of  colonel,  with  au- 
thority to  raise  men  and  accomplish  the  object.  He 
learned  that  others  were  engaged  in  the  same  enterprise, 
and  without  waiting  to  enlist  men,  he  set  out  immediately 
for  Vermont.  There  he  met  the  redoubtable  Ethan  Al- 
len— an  original  character — wno  from  his  very  singulari- 
ties exerted  a  great  influence  over  his  companions.  When 
he  harangued  them,  as  he  often  did,  "  his  style,  though  a 
singular  compound  of  local  barbarisms,  and  scriptural 
phrases,  and  oriental  wildness,  was  highly  animated  and 
forcible."  The  territory  now  known  as  the  State  of  Ver- 
mont, was  claimed  at  this  time  by  both  New  York  and 
New  Hampshire  ;  but  the  inhabitants  preferred  to  live 


10. 


CAPTURE   OF   TICONDEROGA  363 

onder  the  rule  of  the  latter,  and  formed  combinations  to  SvS 

resist  the  authority  of  New  York.     Allen  was  the  leader  

of  "  the  Green  Mountain  Boys,"  an  association  formed    1776. 
for  this  purpose. 

These  Green  Mountain  Boys,  numbering  about  two 
hundred  and  seventy,  with  Allen  at  their  head,  were  al- 
ready on  their  way  to  Ticonderoga.  Within  a  few  miles 
of  the  head  of  Lake  Champlain,  Arnold  overtook  them. 
By  virtue  of  his  commission  as  colonel,  he  ordered  Allen 
to  surrender  the  command  into  his  hands.  Allen  refused, 
nor  would  his  men  march  under  any  other  leader.  It  was 
finally  arranged  that  Arnold  should  go  as  a  volunteer,  re- 
taining the  rank  of  colonel  without  the  command.  The 
following  night  the  party  reached  Shoreham,  a  point  on 
the  lake  opposite  Ticonderoga.  At  dawn  of  day,  as  they  A£ay 
had  but  few  boats,  only  eighty-three  men  with  Arnold 
and  Allen  had  crossed  over. 

They  could  delay  no  longer,  lest  they  should  be  dis- 
covered, and  Allen  proposed  to  move  on  at  once  to  the 
fort.  Guided  by  a  boy  of  the  neighborhood,  a  brisk  run 
up  the  hill  soon  brought  them  to  the  entrance.  They 
secured  the  two  sentinels,  one  of  whom  they  compelled  to 
show  the  way  to  the  quarters  of  Captain  Delaplace,  the 
commandant.  The  vigorous  knocks  of  Allen  at  his  door 
soon  roused  him.  When  he  appeared,  half-awake  and 
half-dressed,  Allen  flourished  his  sword,  and  called  upon 
him  to  surrender  the  fort.  The  commandant  stammered 
out,  "  By  whose  authority  do  you  act  ?  "  "  In  the  name 
of  the  Great  Jehovah  and  the  Continental  Congress," 
thundered  Allen.  This  was  a  demonstration  not  to  be 
resisted.  The  cheers  of  Allen's  men  had  already  roused 
the  garrison,  all  of  whom  were  taken  prisoners. 

Two  days  later  Seth  Warner,  Allen's  lieutenant,  with 
a  detachment,  took  Crown  Point.  Arnold  then  obtained 
boats,  pushed  on,  and  captured  St.  John's  in  the  SoreL 
Altogether,  sixty  prisoners  were  taken,  and  what  was  far 


364  HISTORY   OF  THE    AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

char   more  important,  two  hundred  cannons  and  a  large  supply 

.  of  gunpowder. 

1775. 

Two  days  after  the  affair  at  Lexington,  Lord  Dunmore, 
governor  of  Virginia,  sent  a  company  of  marines,  who,  in 

April  the  night,  entered  the  capital,  "Williamsburg,  and  carried 
20,  off  from  the  public  arsenal  about  twenty  barrels  of  powder, 
and  conveyed  them  on  board  an  armed  schooner  lying  in 
James  river.  When  the  inhabitants  learned  the  fact  the 
next  morning,  they  were  greatly  exasperated.  Numbers 
flew  to  arms  with  the  intention  of  recovering  the  powder 
By  the  persuasions  of  the  leading  citizens,  and  of  the 
council,  they  were  restrained  from  acts  of  violence. 

The  Council,  however,  addressed  a  remonstrance  to 
the  governor,  who  promised,  verbally,  to  restore  the  pow- 
der when  it  should  be  needed.  The  people  deemed  his 
answer  unsatisfactory.  When  intelligence  came  of  the 
conflict  at  Concord,  it  flashed  upon  their  minds  that  the 
seizure  of  the  powder  and  munitions  of  war  in  the  colonies 
was  concerted  by  the  royal  governors,  in  accordance  with 
instructions  from  the  ministry. 
2  y  Patrick  Henry  invited  the  independent  companies  of 

the  county  of  Hanover  to  meet  him  at  a  certain  place  on 
the  second  of  May.  They,  seven  hundred  strong,  obeyed 
the  call  He  made  known  why  they  were  called  together ; 
spoke  of  the  fight  at  Concord,  and  the  occasion  of  it. 
Then,  at  their  head,  he  marched  towards  Williamsburg, 
determined  either  to  have  the  powder  returned,  or  its 
value  in  money.  On  their  way  a  messenger  from  the 
frightened  governor  met  them,  and  tendered  the  money 
for  the  full  value  of  the  powder.  The  money  was  after- 
ward sent  to  Congress.  * 

The  companies  now  disbanded,  with  the  understanding 
that  when  called  upon,  they  were  to  be  ready  to  march  at 
a  minute's  warning.  Thus  did  Virginia  emulate  Massa- 
chusetts. 


THE    PEOPLE    RISE    IN    OPPOSITION.  365 

Dunniore,  in  the  mean  while,  fled  with  his  family  on   chap. 

board  a  man-of-war,  and  thence  issued  one  of  his  harmless  

proclamations,  in  which  he  declared  "  a  certain  Patrick    1775. 
Henry  and  his  associates  to  be  in  rebellion." 

A  few  days  before  he  had  said,  "  The  whole  country     » 
can  easily  be  made  a  solitude ; "  and  he   threatened  to 
declare  freedom  to  the  slaves,  arm  them,  and  lay  Wil- 
liamsburg in  ashes  1 

As  the  news  from  Lexington  and  Concord  reached  the 
various  portions  of  the  colonies  the  people  rose  in  opposi- 
tion. The  whigs  were  indignant  at  the  outrage,  and  the 
royalists  censured  Gage  for  his  rash  and  harsh  measures. 

In  New  York,  the  Sons  of  Liberty,  with  Kobert  Sears, 
the  sturdy  mechanic,  at  their  head,  seized  eighty  thousand 
pounds  of  flour,  which  was  on  board  of  sloops  ready  to  be 
taken  to  Boston  for  the  king's  troops  ;  they  shut  up  the 
custom-house,  and  forbade  vessels  to  leave  the  harbor  for 
any  colony  or  port  which  acknowledged  British  authority ; 
they  secured  the  arms  and  ammunition  belonging  to  the 
city,  while  the  volunteers  turned  out  and  paraded  the 
streets.  The  General  Committee  was  dilatory ;  another 
was  chosen  to  act  with  more  energy.  An  association  was 
formed  whose  members  pledged  themselves,  "under  all 
ties  of  religion,  honor,  and  love  of  country,  to  submit  to 
committees  and  to  Congress,  to  withhold  supplies  from 
the  British  troops,  and,  at  the  risk  of  lives  and  fortunes, 
to  repel  every  attempt  at  enforcing  taxation  by  Parlia- 
ment." 

Similar  was  the  spirit  manifested  in  the  Jerseys.  In 
Philadelphia,  thousands  of  the  citizens  assembled  and 
resolved,  "  To  associate  for  the  purpose  of  defending  with 
arms,  their  lives,  their  property,  and  liberty."  Thomas 
Mifflin,  the  warlike  young  Quaker,  urged  them  in  his 
speech,  "  not  to  be  bold  in  declarations  and  cold  in  action." 
Military  companies  were  formed  in  the  neighboring  coun- 


366  HISTORY   OF  THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

char   ties,  as  well  as  in  the  city,  who  armed   themselves   ana 

daily  practised  their  exercises. 

177f .  In  Maryland,  Eden,  the  royalist  governor,  in  order  tc 

conciliate,  gave  np  to  the  people  the  arms  and  ammunition 
*    of  the  province. 

In  Charleston,  the  people  at  once  distributed  the 
twelve  hundred  stand  of  arms  which  they  seized  in  the 
royal  arsenal,  while  the  Provincial  Congress,  with  Henry 
Laurens,  a  Huguenot  by  descent,  as  their  president,  de- 
clared themselves  "  ready  to  sacrifice  their  lives  and  for- 
tunes to  secure  freedom  and  safety."  The  officers  of  the 
militia  threw  up  their  commissions  from  the  governor,  and 
declared  themselves  ready  to  submit  to  the  authority  of 
Congress.  Eegiments  of  infantry  and  rangers  were  imme- 
diately raised. 

Georgia,  which  had  hitherto  been  lukewarm,  now  took 
decided  ground.  The  people  broke  into  the  royal  maga- 
zine, from  which  they  took  all  the  powder,  five  hundred 
pounds.  The  committee  wrote  words  of  encouragement 
and  commendation  to  the  people  of  Massachusetts,  and 
sent  them  rice  and  specie. 

In  North  Carolina,  as  the  news  passed  from  place  to 
place,  it  awakened  the  spirit  of  resistance  to  tyranny. 
The  highlands  along  her  western  frontier  were  settled  by 
Presbyterians  of  Scotch-Irish  descent,  "  who  were  said  to 
possess  the  impulsiveness  of  the  Irishman  with  the  dogged 
resolution  of  the  Covenanter."  A  county  convention  was 
in  session  when  the  courier  arrived.  Fired  with  indigna- 
tion, the  delegates  resolved  to  throw  off  "  the  authority 
of  the  king  and  Parliament."  Ephraim  Brevard,  "  trained 
in  the  college  at  Princeton,"  and  afterward  a  martyr  in 
the  cause,  embodied  their  sentiments  in  resolutions,  which 
declared  :  "  All  laws  and  commissions,  confirmed  by  or 
derived  from  the  authority  of  the  king  and  Parliament  to 

lfay.    be  annulled  and  vacated."   To  maintain  their  rights,  they 
also  determined  to  form  nine  military  companies,  and  tc 


THE   SECOND   CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS.  36> 

frame  laws  for  the  internal  government  of  the  courtry.  §^j[ 

This  was  the  famous  Mecklenburg  Declaration  of  Inde-   

pendence.  1775. 

Such  was  the  spirit  that  pervaded  the  minds  of  the 
entire  people.  Throughout  the  land  free  principles  had 
laid  the  train — the  spark  was  applied  at  Lexington. 

On  the  tenth  of  May  the  second  Continental  Congress  Maj 
commenced  its  session  at  Philadelphia.  They  organized 
without  changing  the  officers  of  the  year  before.  In  a 
few  days,  however,  Peyton  Kandolph  resigned  the  presi- 
dency to  return  to  Virginia  and  preside  over  the  Assembly, 
which  had  been  called  by  the  governor. 

Thomas  Jefferson  was  sent  to  supply  his  place  as  a 
delegate,  and  John  Hancock  was  elected  president.  Har- 
rison, of  Virginia,  in  conducting  him  to  the  chair,  said  : 
u  We  will  show  Britain  how  much  we  value  her  pro- 
scriptions." For  it  was  well  known  that  Hancock  and 
Samuel  Adams  were  deemed  rebels  too  great  to  be  par- 
doned. 

Dr.  FrankVin  had  returned  only  a  few  days  before  from 
England,  where  he  had  been  for  some  years  in  the  capacity 
of  agent  for  some  of  the  colonies.  There  his  enlightened 
statesmanship  and  far-seeing  judgment  had  won  the  re- 
spect of  liberal-minded  Englishmen.  He  was  at  once 
chosen  a  delegate.  Also,  in  addition  to  the  members  of 
the  first  Congress,  appeared  George  Clinton  and  Robert  R. 
Livingston,  from  New  York. 

The  members  were  encouraged,  for  the  measures  of  the 
first  Congress  had  been  approved  by  the  assemblies  of  all 
the  colonies. 

The  first  General  Congress  met  to  protest  and  peti- 
tion ;  the  second  to  assume  authority  and  take  decisive 
measures.  Then  the  door  was  open  for  reconciliation  with 
the  mother  country,  now  it  was  almost  closed.  The  face 
of  affairs  was  changed  ;  blood  had  been  wantonly  shed, 


HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   PEOPLE. 

chap,  and  a  beleaguering  host  of  rustic  soldiery  were  besieging 

.  the  enemy. 

1775.  Congress  was  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  the  time.     In 

committee  of  the  whole  reports  were  called  for  on  the 
state  of  the  country.  These  disposed  of,  they  passed  to 
other  matters  ;  reviewed  the  events  of  the  last  year ;  inves- 
tigated the  causes  which  led  to  the  conflicts  at  Lexington 
and  Concord.  The  timid  proposed  to  memorialize  Parlia- 
ment once  more.  No  !  argued  John  Adams,  and  many 
others  ;  it  is  useless,  we  have  been  spurned  from  the 
throne,  and  our  petitions  treated  with  contempt  ;  such  a 
memorial  would  embarrass  our  proceedings,  and  have  no 
influence  upon  Parliament.  Yet  another  petition  was,  in 
form,  voted  to  the  king,  and  while  they  denied  any  inten- 
tion to  cast  off  their  allegiance,  they  proceeded  to  put  the 
colonies  in  a  posture  of  defence. 

They  formed  a  "  Federal  Union,"  by  whose  provisions 
each  colony  was  to  manage  its  own  internal  concerns  ;  but 
all  measures  pertaining  to  the  whole  community,  such  as 
treaties  of  peace  or  alliance,  the  regulation  of  commerce, 
or  declaration  of  war,  came  under  the  jurisdiction  of  Con- 
gress. They  recognized  Him  who  holds  in  his  hands  the 
destinies  of  nations.  They  issued  a  proclamation  for  a 
day  of  solemn  fasting  and  prayer. 

Congress  now  assumed  the  authority  of  the  central 
power  of  the  nation.  They  forbade  persons,  under  any 
circumstances,  to  furnish  provisions  to  the  British  navy  or 
troops ;  took  measures  to  enlist  an  army  and  to  build 
fortifications,  and  to  procure  arms  and  ammunition.  To 
defray  expenses,  they  issued  "  Bills  of  Credit,"  amount- 
ing to  two  millions  #of  dollars,  for  whose  redemption  they 
pledged  the  faith  of  the  "  United  Colonies."  In  accord- 
ance with  the  request  of  the  Provincial  Congress  of  Massa- 
chusetts, they  adopted  the  volunteers  in  the  camp  before 
Boston,  as  the  continental  army.  It  remained  to  appoint 
a  Commander-in-chief.     On  this  subject  there  were  diver 


WASHINGTON    CHOSEN   COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF.  369 

sities  of  opinion.     Some  thought  a  New  England  army  SS^f, 

would  prefer  a  New  England  commander  ;  others  strove  

to  appoint  a  commander  acceptable  to  all  sections  of  the  1775 
country.  The  members  of  Congress  acknowledged  the 
military  talents  of  Washington,  and  appreciated  his  lib- 
eral views  as  a  statesman.  As  chairman  of  the  committee 
on  military  affairs,  he  had  suggested  the  majority  of  tbe 
rules  for  the  army,  and  of  the  measures  for  defence.  At 
this  time  came  intimations  in  a  private  letter  from  Dr. 
Warren  to  Samuel  Adams,  that  many  leading  men  in 
Massachusetts  desired  his  appointment  as  commander-in- 
chief. 

Patrick  Henry,  when  asked,  on  his  return  home  from 
the  first  Congress,  who  of  the  members  was  the  greatest 
man,  had  replied,  "  If  you  speak  of  eloquence,  Mr.  Rut- 
ledge,  of  South  Carolina,  is,  by  far,  the  greatest  orator  ; 
but  if  you  speak  of  solid  information  and  sound  judgment, 
Colonel  Washington  is  unquestionably  the  greatest  man 
on  that  floor." 

John  Adams  took  occasion  to  point  out  what,  under 
the  present  circumstances,  should  be  the  qualifications  of 
a  commander-in-chief,  and  closed  by  remarking,  that  they 
knew  a  man  who  had  these  qualifications — "  a  member  of 
this  house  from  Virginia."  He  alluded  to  Washington. 
A  few  days  after,  the  army  was  regularly  adopted,  and 
the  salary  of  the  commander-in-chief  fixed  at  five  hundred 
dollars  a  month.  That  arranged,  Mr.  Johnson,  of  Mary- 
land, nominated  Washington  for  the  office.  The  election 
was  by  ballot,  and  he  was  unanimously  chosen.  The  next  Jane 
day  the  president  of  Congress  formally  announced  to  him  16 
his  election.  Washington  rose  in  his  seat  and  briefly  ex- 
pressed his  gratitude  for  the  unexpected  honor,  and  his 
devotion  to  the  cause.  Then  he  added,  "  I  beg  it  may 
be  remembered  by  every  gentleman  in  this  room,  that  I 
this  day  declare,  with  the  utmost  sincerity,  I  do  not 


370  HISTORY  OF  THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE. 

chap,   think    myself  equal   to    the-  command  I    am    honored 

.  with."     Kefusing  any  pay,  he  continued,  "  I  will  keep  an 

i776.    exact  account  of  my  expenses.      Those,  I  doubt  not, 
they  will  discharge,   and  that   is   all  I  desire."      Con- 
gress resolved   "  to  maintain  and  assist,  and  adhere  to 
'him  with  their  lives  and  fortunes  in  the  defence  of 
American  liberty." 


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